PG&E: Feds allege utility violated terms of its criminal
probation in the San Bruno explosion, judge sets hearing
SAN FRANCISCO — In another blow to embattled PG&E, federal
officials say the utility may have violated the terms of its
probation
imposed after the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion by failing
to
reveal that it was being investigated for causing a fire and
settling a
lawsuit over that and two other blazes.
Judge William Alsup ordered its lawyers to appear in court Jan. 30
to
answer to allegations filed by a federal probation officer in
U.S.
District Court documents Wednesday.
Federal Probation Officer Jennifer Hutchings wrote in the filing
that
the company did not report to its probation officer that it
reached a
$1.5 million settlement with Butte County in October for its role
in
causing three 2017 fires. It also did not report that it was
being
criminally investigated by the District Attorney in one of
those
blazes, dubbed the Honey Fire, for failure to properly trim trees
near
its power lines. The criminal investigation was dropped and no
charges
were filed.
“At no time did Pacific Gas and Electric Company report this
investigation by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office to
the
probation office,” Hutchings wrote.
Alsup oversees the company’s criminal probation following its
conviction on six felonies related to the 2010 San Bruno
explosion
killed eight people. In addition to fines and other penalties, in
2017,
then-U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson placed the utility on
five
years of probation, during which time it was ordered not to
“commit
another federal, state, or local crime.”
In a separate filing Wednesday, Alsup proposed that he change
PG&E’s probation to force changes aimed at reducing “to zero
the
number of wildfires caused by PG&E in 2019.”
“In light of PG&E’s history of falsification of inspection
reports,
PG&E shall, between now and the 2019 Wildfire Season,
re-inspect
all of its electrical grid and remove or trim all trees that could
fall
onto its power lines, poles or equipment in high-wind conditions,”
the
judge wrote.
He also said the company has to monitor its grid and wind
conditions
“and may supply electricity only through those parts of its
electrical
grid it has determined to be safe under the wind conditions
then
prevailing.”
In a statement issued late Wednesday a PG&E spokesman,
James
Noonan, said, “We are aware of Judge Alsup’s orders and are
currently
reviewing. We are committed to complying with all rules and
regulations
that apply to our work.”
In recent days, PG&E has said it is considering selling off
its gas
division and replacing members of its board of directors as it
struggles with liabilities from the 2017 North Bay fire and the
Camp
Fire in November that killed 86 people and devastated the Town
of
Paradise. The price of its stock plummeted this week and company
is
pondering a bankruptcy filing.
It has reported in regulatory findings that it is vastly
underinsured
for the estimated $14 billion in liabilities it is facing over
recent
wildfires.
A lawyer involved in the San Bruno case said aid she was both
surprised, but also not surprised that PG&E was found to not
report
properly.
“It seems irresponsible for PG&E to not report any possible
violation of probation,” she said. “You’d think they’d be under
high
alert … It would be the first thing a responsible corporation
would
do,” said Attorney Britt Strottman, who represented the city of
San
Bruno after the deadly explosion.
She said the judge should reopen the utility’s punishment.
“They probably should be re-sentenced,” said Strottman, a former
San
Mateo prosecutor. “That might be the only way they learn their
lesson.
A slap on the wrist will not change the culture of PG&E.”
