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Devastation caused by PG&E could take decades to repair

By Derek Keller
Updated  August 15, 2021 5:39pm PDT
PG&E
KTVU FOX 2

PG&E admits it possibly ignited massive Dixie Fire

PG&E has acknowledged that its equipment possibly started the huge Dixie Fire, burning in the Sierra Nevada range. The admission comes as several major fires continue burning in California, including the River Fire, near Yosemite National Park, and the Tamarack Fire, burning in the Lake Tahoe region.

SAN FRANCISCO - While many parts of California sit in a cloud of toxic smoke, and the Dixie Fire continues to ravage the northern part of the state, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. hasn’t paid for the total damage they caused from several prior wildfires just within the last few years.

In the past six years, PG&E, the utility nearly 40% of Californians rely on for electricity and natural gas, has been implicated or convicted in burning well over 1 million acres of California’s lands. PG&E has also been found legally responsible for over 100 deaths in the same time frame. In 2018, the utility admitted to killing 84 Californians when its aging electrical transmission equipment failed and sparked the devastating Camp Fire.

PG&E has allocated over $13 billion into a victims fund to compensate the thousands of people who suffered because of their irresponsible decision making and negligence of maintenance.

Criminal charges filed against PG&E for Kincade Fire in Sonoma County

Cal Fire had already pinpointed the cause of the Kincade Fire and PG&E had accepted investigators' findings. But the utility denies any criminal wrongdoing. Residents in the Sonoma County community are welcoming accountability.

Through a special trust created during bankruptcy proceedings for the survivors of the PG&E fires, shares of the company were contributed to the Fire Victim Trust. Victims will ultimately receive cash payments from this trust. How much is yet to be determined. The Fire Victim Trust currently holds nearly one quarter of all PG&E stock.

The fund covers victims of the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 North Bay fires and the 2018 Camp Fire.

Many victims have yet to receive actual funds for their losses. Many are still surviving these increasingly hot summers in campers and RV’s as they wait to receive their funds which will hopefully allow them to rebuild.

PG&E stock has plummeted in the past four years. Shares in 2017 went as high as $70. Today PG&E shares are trading for under $10. At the current rate of decline, PG&E's shares will be priced under $5 in just a few years. If PG&E continues awarding their stock to trusts of wildfire victims, the trusts will, at some point, become the majority shareholder.

This information is in the wake of recent admissions by PG&E, that their incompetence and unsafe equipment probably caused the start of the Dixie fire. As of August 6th, the Dixie Fire has burned over 550,000 acres and is the second largest wildfire in the history of California.

PG&E pleads guilty to 84 deaths in 2018 Camp Fire

Tom Vacar reports.

According to the California Forest Foundation, an acre of California forest now contains 500 to 1000 trees. An estimate during last year’s fires in Oregon places the amount of burned trees at roughly 350 million. That means PG&E is responsible for approximately that same amount of burned trees during the past five years. Thousands of buildings have been burned to the ground and millions of animals have been killed or displaced.

One of the best ways humans can fight the rapid change in climate that California is facing is by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Unfortunately, the fires that raged during the California fires in 2020 released more carbon dioxide than all of the cars on the road for an entire year.

While PG&E has been directly linked to hundreds of deaths in California, nobody is quite sure how many thousands of Californians died from the smoke inhalation from the many fires it’s been tied to. Some scientists estimate that smoke inhalation from wildfires killed over 3,600 Californians in 2018. The PG&E induced Camp Fire was responsible for about 10 percent of all the overall acreage burned in California during 2018.

PG&E hauls away dead trees from 2020 wildfires

Pacific Gas and Electric's woes are so interconnected with trees and powerlines, as we recently reported, it will bury 10,000 miles of lines in fire prone areas in the coming years.

A recent report links the increased amount of fire smoke to an 8.4% increase in COVID-19 mortality cases.

Two weeks ago Greenville, California was the latest city to be added to a list that includes Paradise, Hinkley and Coffey Park. California towns and neighborhoods that have been decimated due to PG&E’s carelessness and criminal neglect. Millions of Californians are at risk of becoming the next casualty in a catastrophe caused by the energy giant.

The overall toll of PG&E’s behavior and irresponsible decision making will take years, possibly decades, to fully calculate.

Correction: This article has been revised to more accurately describe how PG&E contributes to the Fire Victim Fund and victims are compensated.

PG&E announces final agreement in settlement with wildfire victims

Pacific Gas and Electric announced on Monday, they have finalized an $11 billion settlement for claims from the 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California, including the Camp Fire that killed 86 people.