A view of Los Angeles and its smog. (Photo: IM_Photo, via Shutterstock)OPINION: It is important that state leaders stay firm on their resolve that PG&E is restructured in a way that both hardens our electrical grid and keeps our commitments to California’s climate and clean energy goals. Right now is no time to walk back on our climate change commitments.
Preparing a wish list and goals for the coming year. (Photo: AniKona Ann, via Shutterstock)Due to the journalistic enterprise constantly demonstrated by our army of reporters, we’ve obtained a copy of the list and is deploying it below. Along with a few predictions, here is what Sacramento and Washington notables want more than anything in 2020.
Transmission tower with power lines surrounded by trees. <(Photo: Pictures_n_Photos, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The devastation of fire season in wine country and southern California has only been compounded by never-ending public safety power shutoffs across the state. While the purpose of power shutoffs by utility companies, like PG&E, is to prevent their uninspected equipment from catching fire during hot, windy weather, the constant lack of power is an unacceptable solution for California homeowners and business owners and their operations.
A PG&E worker checks power lines during a San Jose grass fire in July. (Photo: Geartooth Productions, via Shutterstock) Things are not going well for PG&E. Amid massive blackouts that PG&E has put in place to avoid liability in the event of a wildfire, millions of Californians were left without power — for days at a time in some cases. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has called for a public takeover of PG&E — a move backed by at least two dozen cities — that would reclassify the company as a nonprofit electric and gas cooperative instead of an investor-owned company.
Assembly candidates Elizabeth Betancourt, left, and Megan Dahle. (Photo illustration by Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)A husband and wife team in the Legislature — again? On Nov. 5, voters in California’s sprawling 1st Assembly District will choose between Republican Megan Dahle and Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt in a special election.
A utility worker handles repairs on a power pole. (Photo: Richard Thornton, via Shutterstock)PG&E’s reputation has been so battered over its wildfire liabilities and other problems that some think it should change its name. A group of bondholders trying to take over the utility company has proposed that they re-brand it to Golden State Power Light & Gas Co. They made the proposal during proceedings in PG&E’s bankruptcy court case earlier this year.
A California forest fire seen at night. (Photo: vladseagull, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Until 2019, if a California utility violated fire safety rules and thereby caused a catastrophic wildfire, the utility could not make its customers pay for its uninsured wildfire costs.In 2017, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was found by two administrative law judges to have violated numerous fire safety rules when its operations caused San Diego’s catastrophic wildfires in 2007.
A resident leads horses to safety in Paradise during the 2018 Camp Fire. (Photo: Dylan Mittag, via Shutterstock)Everyone with any knowledge of the subject agrees: California is on the brink of a potentially disastrous fire season. And there is concern that the problem is not going to be solved soon. “Our best efforts may still be inadequate,” said Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.
Fire safety has suddenly become far more politically fraught and expensive. Here, firefighters respond to 2017 Ponderosa Fire. Photo courtesy of Cal Fire. (Photo: CalFire, via CALmatters)Don’t be fooled by the precipitation, the snowpack, the wildflowers. When winter ends, it’s unlikely that California’s iconic landscape will sustain the moisture to withstand the 100-degree summer and fall. California has yet to recover from the 5-year drought that began in 2012. For four years, record wildfires have ravaged the state, including the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma in 2017 and the Camp Fire last year that wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County.
State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, who represents the 10th Senate District.(Senate photo) State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, is more than just the senator representing California’s 10th Senate District. He’s also a bankruptcy lawyer, giving him an unusual insight into Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s recent bankruptcy declaration.