DA Coalition and PG&E deal draws fire from victims

District Attorneys from six fire-ravaged counties announced a settlement with PG&E this past Monday, eliminating the possibility of criminal charges for the catastrophic Kincade and Dixie fires the electrical monopoly caused in 2019 and 2021.

The six-county coalition is comprised of Sonoma, Butte, Lassen, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama. Mendocino County was not involved in the process, thus qualifying as a smart move by our DA.

Organizers with Reclaim Our Power, the largest coalition of grassroots organizations fighting to hold PG&E accountable and for a transformation of California’s energy system, called out the settlement for its failure to truly hold PG&E accountable for their crimes, and called on Governor Gavin Newsom “to take action to end PG&E’s reign of terror over California.”

Mary Kay Benson, a Butte County wildfire survivor advocate, said, “What would it take to actually hold PG&E accountable? How many more burned down towns, more lives upended, more burned lungs do we need to see until we get justice? For the millionaire executives at murderous PG&E, the money in this settlement is a rounding error, and is an appalling way to mistreat the families, farmworkers, forests and lives damaged by this monstrous company.”

The settlement reportedly will total only 55 million dollars, largely in contributions to local education and non-profit organizations, for damage that will likely total in the billions of dollars. In contrast, it was recently reported that PG&E paid their new CEO Patti Poppe 50 million dollars in pay and benefits in 2021.

That appears to be a good deal — for the new CEO, of course.

But as always is the case with common folk, they got the messy end of the stick.

Reclaim Our Power says fire survivors presented the Sonoma District Attorney with tangible, concrete pathways to hold PG&E accountable through this process, including forcing the utility to return to criminal probation, following through on charges for causing damaging smoke, and even making the evidence of what happened to cause these fires public, to avoid future calamities. The settlement included none of these provisions.

The six-county DA coalition,