Majority of PG&E board members facing ouster.
Critics say same group involved with string of disasters still makes decisions
PG&E on Monday outlined a major shakeup of its board of directors, vowing that most of the board will be new and independent directors, a move designed to appease volleys of criticism in the wake of a series of lethal infernos and gas system failures.
The embattled utility, already a convicted felon for crimes it committed before and after a fatal explosion in San Bruno that killed eight, toppled into bankruptcy on Jan. 29 in a quest to ward off a mountain of debts that looms over its crumbling finances.
Those debts include potentially $30 billion in liabilities arising from deadly firestorms in Northern California in 2017 and 2018.
Critics of PG&E maintain that its current board of directors continues to supervise the utility despite a string of catastrophes, and needs to be ousted or dramatically shaken up.
“As we have seen since the San Bruno explosion, nothing has changed,” state Sen. Jerry Hill, DSan Mateo, said in an interview Monday with this news organization. “A radical shakeup is necessary to bring about the changes at PG&E we all want and expect.”
Skeptics note that half of the board members were on
the panel at the time of of the San Bruno disaster.
“We fully understand that PG&E must re-earn trust and credibility with its customers, regulators, the communities it serves and all of its stakeholders,” PG&E’s board stated in a prepared release outlining the plans to revamp the panel’s membership.
Among the laundry list of disasters or failures linked to PG&E that were overseen by the board of directors, as viewed by PG&E critics:
• Five of PG&E’s convictions in its criminal trial involved pipeline safety violations that occurred before
the San Bruno explosion — and one occurred after the blast when PG&E obstructed an official federal investigation into the disaster.
• The San Bruno blast occurred due to a deadly mixture of PG&E’s shoddy maintenance, flawed record keeping, as well as lax and ineffective oversight of PG&E by the state Public Utilities Commission.
• PG&E in 2018 was accused by the PUC of falsifying gas pipeline records over a five-year period from 2012 to 2017 — despite claims by the utility that it had learned the tragic lessons of the San Bruno blast.
• A fatal 2015 wildfire in Amador County and Calaveras County sparked by a tree coming into contact with a PG&E power line.
• The lethal Wine Country firestorms of 2017, including 17 that were caused by PG&E’s electrical equipment.
• The deadly Butte County wildfire of 2018. PG&E stated that it suffered equipment failures near where that blaze began.
“We recognize the importance of adding fresh perspectives to the Board to help address the serious challenges the business faces now and in the future,” PG&E’s board stated Monday.
San Francisco-based PG&E should be given the benefit of the doubt with its board shakeup, but not much more than that, said Sen. Hill, whose district covers parts of Santa Clara County and San Mateo County, as
well as San Bruno.
“PG&E must recognize that what they have done in the past has not worked,” Hill said. “PG&E’s past approach has brought it more of the same, which is failure.”
The embattled utility intends to have the board changes in place prior to the company’s annual shareholders meeting, which might be held this spring, even during the ongoing bankruptcy case. In its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, PG&E listed $51.69 billion in debts and $71.39 billion in assets.
“Perhaps this bankruptcy will cause PG&E to see the light,” Hill said. “No one will accept the status quo going forward.”