Posts Tagged: PG&E

News

PG&E in the crosshairs of bankruptcy, fires, regulation

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.

News

An Assembly battle in the wide-open spaces

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.

News

PG&E by any other name: Golden State Power Light & Gas?

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.

Opinion

New wildfire safety bill hurts, rather than helps

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.

News

Outlook bleak for California’s 2019 fire season

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.

News

What happens when the next big wildfire hits?

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.

Podcast

CW Podcast: Bob Wieckowski on PG&E’s bankruptcy peril

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.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly Podcast: J.D. Morris on PG&E bankruptcy

PG&E trucks on the job. (Photo: PG&E, via Facebook)

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the largest utility in California, filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, citing billions of dollars in potential liabilities from the utility giant’s potential role in sparking a series of devastating California wildfires. That means reporter J.D. Morris, who has been covering the issue for the San Francisco Chronicle, is a busy man, indeed.

News

Diablo Canyon: To be or not to be?

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County at Avila Beach. (Photo: Michael L. Baird, via Wikipedia)

A final decision looms on whether to close California’s last operating nuclear power plant. The California Public Utilities Commission will hear closing arguments tomorrow, Nov. 28, on the fate of the controversial Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. The commission is expected to make a decision by the end of the year.

News

San Bruno blast: Probe into PUC role still unresolved

A devastated zone in San Bruno following the 2010 gas pipeline explosion. (Photo: Brocken Inaglory)

Six years after the devastating San Bruno natural gas pipeline blast led to the deaths of eight people, the California Public Utilities Commission has not been held accountable for what elected officials say was its role in the tragedy. State Sen. Jerry Hill, Assemblyman Kevin Mullin and San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane are trying to change that.

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