Report: PG&E work ‘questionable’ in fire prevention efforts
New information raises fresh concerns about process to curb escalation of seasonal wildfires
PG& E has failed to meet its goals for vegetation management and tree trimming, and the work by the utility is “questionable,” a court- ordered monitor stated in a new report released Wednesday.
The report raises fresh questions about PG& E’s efforts to help curb a new outburst of infernos akin to the fatal wildfires that have torched numerous areas of Northern California with catastrophic results.
“PG& E’s contractors are missing numerous trees that should have been identified and worked,” according to the report by the monitor, established by the court that is supervising PG& E’s probation following the company’s criminal conviction in 2016 in a fatal gas explosion in San
Bruno. The company also is falling short of its goals for enhanced vegetation management for 2019, the report stated.
Even worse, the work that has been done appears to be subpar in at least some instances.
“The quality of the completed work is questionable,” according to the report from Kirkland & Ellis, a law firm that was appointed to monitor PG&E’s actions during its probationary period.
San Francisco- based PG& E’s probation is being supervised by U. S. District Court Judge William Alsup. He extended the scope of PG& E’s probation to include the company’s role in a series of deadly infernos that scorched parts of Amador County and Calaveras County in 2015, the North Bay Wine Country and nearby regions in 2017, and a section of Butte County in 2018, a blaze that essentially destroyed the town of Paradise.
The court monitor also determined that PG& E appears to have stumbled into a bout of poor recordkeeping in connection with its efforts to inspect and control vegetation and trees that could contribute to a future wildfire.
“We continue to work transparently and cooperatively with the Federal Monitor and his team” PG& E said Wednesday night. “We understand and recognize the serious concerns raised by the Monitor and we are taking immediate action to address these issues, which are consistent with our own internal reviews.”
Faced with a forbidding landscape of wildfire- related claims and other liabilities, PG& E filed for bankruptcy in January, listing $ 51.69 billion in debts, hoping to ward off its creditors and reorganize its shattered finances.
State investigators have determined that PG& E’s equipment caused numerous fatal fires in recent years, including the lethal Camp Fire in Butte County in 2018.
The utility remains under intense pressure to lessen the chances of future wildfires, an effort that is now being officially put in doubt.
“PG& E is falling short of its enhanced vegetation management goals for the year,” the monitor’s report stated.