California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, was hosed by the courts in an effort to save its ass from liabilities in the wildfires that happened in 2017 and 2018. Most of the elite media always like to insert the phrase, “wildfires linked to PG&E’s faulty electrical power grid” but that is so freakishly misleading. Winds knock down a power line, well according to elite media, that is a failure of the power grid. Someone shoots down a power line, well, that is a failure of the power grid. Godzilla wrecks a system, well, that is a failure of the power grid.
The actual court ruling has nothing to do with the “failure of the power grid.” Rather it has to do with the law.
“The California Constitution provides that private property may be taken or damaged for a public use as long as just compensation is paid to the owner,” Montali wrote in the ruling. “This section does not mention liable parties, cost recovery, or socialization of costs. In short, the California Constitution imposes strict liability in favor of the owner of property that has been taken or damaged through a public use or purpose and does not concern itself with the rights or liabilities of (who) or what did the damage.”
PG&E failed to show a utility had “ever been denied cost recovery under this principle when they have been found prudent,” Montali added.
Pacific Gas & Electric is being held responsible for fires due to faulty equipment that many feel should have had better safety mechanisms in place. The Camp Fire in Paradise, California that burned 153 thousand acres had two separate ignition points and those ignition points suggests PG&E equipment may have caused the fires.
From a letter that PG&E sent to the California Public Utilities Commission:
…PG&E Caribou-Palermo 115kV Transmission Line relayed and deenergized. One customer was impacted by the transmission outage. At approximately 6:30 a.m. a PG&E employee observed fire in the vicinity of Tower :27/222, and this observation was reported to 911 by PG&E employees. In the afternoon of November 8, PG&E observed damage on the line at Tower :27/222, located near Camp Creek and Pulga Roads, near the Town of Pulga. Specifically, an aerial patrol identified that on Tower :27/222, a suspension insulator supporting a transposition jumper had separated from an arm on the tower. The suspension insulator and the transposition jumper remained suspended above the ground.
CAL FIRE initially restricted access to Tower :27/222 and adjacent Tower :27/221 on the Caribou-Palermo Transmission Line, but eventually permitted PG&E access for the limited purpose of cooperating with its investigation. On November 14, 2018, as part of its investigation of the Camp Fire, CAL FIRE requested assistance collecting assets from the two towers. PG&E assisted CAL FIRE with the requested collection, and Commission staff was on site to observe the collection. At the time of the collection at Tower :27/222, PG&E observed a broken C-hook attached to the separated suspension insulator that had connected the suspension insulator to a tower arm, along with wear at the connection point. In addition, PG&E observed a flash mark on Tower :27/222 near where the transposition jumper was suspended and damage to the transposition jumper and suspension insulator. At Tower :27/221, there was an insulator hold down anchor that had become disconnected. The insulator hold down anchor is not an energized piece of equipment. After the evidence collection, CAL FIRE released the site. PG&E has not yet made repairs at either tower or restored service.
In addition to the events on the Caribou-Palermo 115kV Transmission Line, on November 8, 2018, at approximately 6:45 a.m., the PG&E Big Bend 1101 12 kV Circuit experienced an outage. Four customers on Flea Mountain were affected by the distribution outage. On November 9, 2018, a PG&E employee on patrol arrived at the location of the pole with Line Recloser (“LR”) 1704 on the Big Bend 1101 Circuit and observed that the pole and other equipment was on the ground with bullets and bullet holes at the break point of the pole and on the equipment. On November 12, 2018, a PG&E employee was patrolling Concow Road north of LR 1704, when he observed wires down and damaged and downed poles at the intersection of Concow Road and Rim Road. This location is within the Camp Fire footprint. At this location, the employee observed several snapped trees, with some on top of the downed wires.
So while the media and local governments repeat over and over again that it was all PG&E’s fault, there were acts of God (nature) involved and perhaps even terrorism. It isn’t like California does not have fires every year from various causes. There is often high winds. There is dry foliage. Who would the people of California sue if the fires were from a lightning strike or an attack from Chinese or Islamic or Redneck or Gangsta terrorist group?
Consider that if an American Company is attacked by terrorists, we now have local governments that would join with those terrorists to finish destroying a company that is vital to America’s infrastructure. If that does not trouble you then I have to ask, what the hell is wrong with you???
I am not trying to defend PG&E (too much because there probably is fault there) but does it really make sense to make it virtually impossible for utility companies in California to operate because potential liability cost are too high, even from acts of God (nature) and terrorism. PG&E liability should be based on their failure to properly maintain their equipment, to maintain equipment with proper safety mechanisms, and also maintain the ability for fast response times in place. But still, the weight of other factors should be considered and the objective should not be to help–in case of sabotage–the bad guys succeed in destroying a company.
The fires were awful and the people impacted should be helped. Is suing the utility company and making it even more difficult for said to have the money to update their equipment and make their equipment less likely to cause fires the better way to deliver that help? I don’t think so.
PG&E should be fined based on any negligence that can be proven. Part of that fine should be to contribute to a fund to help those damaged by those fires. But supporting lawsuits to destroy the company is just stupid.
Perhaps the judge is right in his ruling based on the law and the case study of the law, but perhaps the law is too detrimental to the over all public good for the case law to stand. Should PG&E be held to account for their true liability? Of course they should, but perhaps ambulance chasing lawyers are not the best ones to hold them accountable.
Understand, even with all of that said, if I had been harmed by the fires then I would want to sue the hell out of the bastards. I am a total hypocrite. I would out there chasing down the best ambulance chasing lawyer I could find. 🙂
When you consider the celebs who lost their mansions, there is part of me that wants to say “Act of God” is just about right . But the fires were awful and I guess that would be a crappy thing to say. Sill, given how the celebs on twitter have attacked Trump supporters and at times even called for economic warfare against us, I can’t help but think that Karma is a righteous bitch.
Yeah, I would not try to defend PG&E, that would not make you very popular. 🙂
Probably not.