Electric company to blame for California fire

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New York (CNN Business)If California electric utility PG&E is responsible for California's wildfires, it may not be able to afford the payouts it would owe.

PG&E disclosed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it "experienced an outage" on a transmission line in Butte County at 6:15 a.m. on November 8 -- just 15 minutes before the Camp Fire that has so far claimed 48 lives broke out.

PG&E said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But if its equipment is found to be responsible for it, PG&E "could be subject to significant liability in excess of insurance coverage" and that this could have "a material impact" on its financial results.

The utility renewed its liability insurance coverage for wildfire events for an amount of approximately $1.4 billion that covers the period from August 1, 2018 through July 31, 2019, the company said in the SEC filing.

But the fire is far from being under control, which means more damage is likely. PG&E said in the filing that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimates the fire won't be fully contained until November 30.

The damages alone could cost up to $6.8 billion. according to a report from Moody's this week.

PG&E may not have enough to cover the cost that, let alone any legal fees or fines it might have to pay. The utility said in its filing that it currently has $3.46 billion in cash after borrowing from an existing revolving credit line.

Shares of PG&E (PCG) plunged more than 30% Wednesday following this disclosure and were briefly halted for volatility. The stock has now fallen by half since the Camp Fire began.

more here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/14/investing/pge-california-fires-liability/index.html

The irony in this...liberals are blaming climate change for this wildfire but it’s actually the fault of an electric company AND California’s negligence...

I won’t be surprised if this is used as ammunition against some green bills in the future.  

[Whispering 18,865]

35 minutes ago, LateToCult said:

 

 

 

 

The irony in this...liberals are blaming climate change for this wildfire but it’s actually the fault of an electric company AND California’s negligence...

I won’t be surprised if this is used as ammunition against some green bills in the future.  

The severity and frequency of these fires are due to climate change. 

If you look at the 20 biggest fires in the state of California, 15 of those have happened since 2000. There are now bigger fires, and more and more record breakers. Fire season is getting longer. 

High temperatures mean that rain has been a rarity, a phenomenon scientists have referred to as “negative rain,” and what meteorologists say is more extreme than having no rain at all. High winds rushing in from the east haven’t helped already low humidity rates, which have made the air so cracklingly dry that brush has ignited almost immediately.

 

[LateToCult 42,108]

19 minutes ago, Whispering said:

The severity and frequency of these fires are due to climate change. 

If you look at the 20 biggest fires in the state of California, 15 of those have happened since 2000. There are now bigger fires, and more and more record breakers. Fire season is getting longer. 

High temperatures mean that rain has been a rarity, a phenomenon scientists have referred to as “negative rain,” and what meteorologists say is more extreme than having no rain at all. High winds rushing in from the east haven’t helped already low humidity rates, which have made the air so cracklingly dry that brush has ignited almost immediately.

 

I live on the west coast so I know very well that climate change is real and I’m not trying to discredit that. But over 50 people are dead, hundreds are missing, and an entire city is completely destroyed. This shouldn’t be swept under the climate change rug. Especially after looking into the history of PG&E. Corporate greed and California’s negligence made this specific disaster happen. 

[Whispering 18,865]

1 hour ago, LateToCult said:

I live on the west coast so I know very well that climate change is real and I’m not trying to discredit that. But over 50 people are dead, hundreds are missing, and an entire city is completely destroyed. This shouldn’t be swept under the climate change rug. Especially after looking into the history of PG&E. Corporate greed and California’s negligence made this specific disaster happen. 

It may have very well been the ignition, but it isn’t the reason why fires are more frequent and more intense. Events that normally could be handled by the fire dept. are now causing record breaking outbreaks. 

[Mirages 20,259]

@Whispering @LateToCult why are you even arguing when the cause of the fire has not been found yet. It says so in the article. Until the investigation comes to a result we won't know what caused the fires and if it really happened because of PG&E. The fact that climate change makes it easier to spread fire does not mean that the company is not accountable it means it should have taken measures to prevent this from happening and should have adapted to the change. Then stands the question - were those measures taken or was the company negligent and should be held accountable. 

[Whispering 18,865]

8 hours ago, Mirages said:

@Whispering  The fact that climate change makes it easier to spread fire does not mean that the company is not accountable it means it should have taken measures to prevent this from happening and should have adapted to the change. 

Correct. 

[DeleteMyAccount 11,881]

11 hours ago, LateToCult said:

The irony in this...liberals are blaming climate change for this wildfire but it’s actually the fault of an electric company AND California’s negligence...

I won’t be surprised if this is used as ammunition against some green bills in the future.  

You can at least try and create a discussion without polarizing one side...

Additionally, educated people would understand that climate change alone isn't the arson in this fire... Bu the fact that Cali faces so many droughts and not enough rain backs the theory of why so many fires start up in the first place. I don't think you understand CC at all actually considering your ignorance for any rational reasoning of such cases.

Your own post and linked articles even state that the source of the fire still hasn't been proven yet. So why on Earth are you calling out people for blaming "climate change" while thinking that's not the case and yet at the same time blaming PG&E even though nothing has been fully investigated? Where's the logic there... Come on.

Also, California HAS been utilizing their resources for these events, but you can't do much when these fires can literally spark anywhere. 

"This shouldn’t be swept under the climate change rug."

Who is even saying that? You are. And all you're doing is trying to make "liberals" and CC at fault for literally no reason whatsoever. Climate change can't be used as a scapegoat. But it CAN be used to explain why such events are happening more frequently. Again, it's a factor in the bigger picture. PG&E may be at fault as well, but one side(conservatives) still won't dare talk about CC after all of this is done with. And that's the loss.

You can't discuss this issue without mentioning all factors, and you fail to mention one of the most important ones. 

[LateToCult 42,108]

1 hour ago, ZacharyMark said:

You can at least try and create a discussion without polarizing one side...

Additionally, educated people would understand that climate change alone isn't the arson in this fire... Bu the fact that Cali faces so many droughts and not enough rain backs the theory of why so many fires start up in the first place. I don't think you understand CC at all actually considering your ignorance for any rational reasoning of such cases.

Your own post and linked articles even state that the source of the fire still hasn't been proven yet. So why on Earth are you calling out people for blaming "climate change" while thinking that's not the case and yet at the same time blaming PG&E even though nothing has been fully investigated? Where's the logic there... Come on.

Also, California HAS been utilizing their resources for these events, but you can't do much when these fires can literally spark anywhere. 

"This shouldn’t be swept under the climate change rug."

Who is even saying that? You are. And all you're doing is trying to make "liberals" and CC at fault for literally no reason whatsoever. Climate change can't be used as a scapegoat. But it CAN be used to explain why such events are happening more frequently. Again, it's a factor in the bigger picture. PG&E may be at fault as well, but one side(conservatives) still won't dare talk about CC after all of this is done with. And that's the loss.

You can't discuss this issue without mentioning all factors, and you fail to mention one of the most important ones. 

 

10 hours ago, Whispering said:

It may have very well been the ignition, but it isn’t the reason why fires are more frequent and more intense. Events that normally could be handled by the fire dept. are now causing record breaking outbreaks. 

It’s my own fault for only posting these articles. I’ve been reading up on the company itself and they have a history with causing disasters in the state and considering they were still operating with the same carelessness in 2018 it’s clear that California could have done more to reign them in. 

No, it’s not confirmed that PG&E is the cause BUT they recorded an anomaly around the time the blaze began and are now exhausting credit lines and making it known that if they’re held accountable they won’t have enough money from insurance and assets and will go bankrupt. There are also lobbyists now that are pushing for the state to bail them out again but it seems for the time being the governor is ignoring their pleas. Plus the attorney that is currently suing PG&E is very confident in his case right now and said they have a lot of evidence, and you know what? I don’t think he’s bluffing. We don’t have the confirmation yet, but let’s not be fools either and connect the pieces.

Yes, I’m saying people sweep it under the climate change rug because that’s exactly what’s happening right now. Everyone on the left (including myself) immediately said “climate change.” We say it frequently but we don’t seem get past that very often. In this case PG&E most likely chose to operate in that area under poor conditions (judging from their very recent history and claims that high ranking officials chose to increase their salaries instead of funneling that money towards repairs and upgrades). And even if they operated under standard conditions and this was some type of freak accident, it still points to how inadequate our current energy infrastructure is. It’s infrastructure that wasn’t made to do well in the current year-round dry conditions affecting large swaths of the west coast. California in particular is seeing tremendous changes because of climate change and it’s a big reason of why there are so many fires year-round now. However, this particular blaze that killed 56 people and left thousands without a home could have been avoided and people shouldn't forget that. It wasn’t just the dry conditions that did this. Though it certainly made things worse.