It’s been almost eighteen months since the last of the big – and highly anomalous – California fires. True to form, the state’s principal utility, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has taken the fall according to this story shared by G.B.:
As the article indicates, the New York Times reported that PG&E has pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 84 people during the Paradise fire.
But there’s more:
In addition to the guilty plea, the California Public Utilities Commission separately fined PG&E almost $2 billion for its negligence in causing the wildfire. What’s more, the company could face additional penalties because its guilty plea represents a violation of a federal probation order placed on the company from a 2010 transformer explosion which started a fire that killed 8 people. The federal judge, William H. Alsup, has the power to impose new penalties on the company for violating its probation, according to the NYT.As it exits bankruptcy, the company has agreed to pay $13.5 billion to settle claims related to the wildfires (it initially declared bankruptcy last January to try and avoid getting whacked with a massive judgment in the ballpark of $30 billion (or at least that’s what the company feared at the time).About half of that number will be paid in the form of company stock, leaving roughly 70,000 wildfire victims owning a little more than 22% of the utility once it leaves bankruptcy.
Ok… let me see if I have this right: the victims of the fires, who have lost property, houses, cars, and perhaps suffered from medical bills or the actual loss of family members or pets, are being paid for their “inconvenience” by shares of stock in the very utility company found guilty of negligence, which company in turn has been heavily and repeatedly fined for said negligence, and whose shares will likely suffer further hits in value.........read more......
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