PG&E charged in California wildfire last year that killed 4

[SouthBayDem]

Source: Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes after its equipment sparked a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes last year, prosecutors said.

It is the latest legal action against the nation’s largest utility, which pleaded guilty last year to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in a 2018 blaze ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid that nearly destroyed the town of Paradise and became the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century.

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett announced the 31 charges, including 11 felonies, against PG&E, saying it failed to perform its legal duties and that its “failure was reckless and criminally negligent, and it resulted in the death of four people.”

If the utility is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the punishment would be a fine for each person killed in the Zogg Fire last year near the city of Redding. A corporation “can’t go to jail, so we’re talking fines, fees, the ability for the court to order remedial and corrective measures,” Bridgett said.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-fires-environment-and-nature-crime-california-a91f9697708a75fab39caf5a340c9fbf

[AllaN01Bear]

1. y cant their board members and ceos be sent to jail?

[Auggie]

2. For-profit public utilities are a climate change danger.

Make them non-profit, owned and operated by the state of California. All earnings go towards energy production, new technology, maintenance and fire prevention.

“Fines? Go ahead, suckers. We’ll just raise your rates.” — PG&E

[OneCrazyDiamond]

3. Exactly.

All utilities including wifi.

[TeamProg]

4. The "Buck" stops at nobody in the private utility world.

Unless there is direct / provable malfeasance, the execs all get off with few repercussions.

[csziggy]

5. Corporations should be subject to the death penalty

If they keep killing people year after year, the corporation should be shut down and its assets should become publicly operated.