Pacific Gas & Electric: Wanted for Murder in San Bruno, CA

Or negligent homicide in any case. If Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) cared about anything besides their balance sheet, they would have prevented last week’s raging inferno in San Bruno, CA which killed at least four people and destroyed dozens of homes.

In 2007, PG&E requested permission from the Public Utilities Commission for a $5 million rate increase. This $5 million was requested specifically so PG&E could repair a section of the exact same natural gas line that exploded last week.

The Public Utilities Commission granted PG&E the $5 million rate hike, with the understanding that PG&E would repair the gas line in 2009. It never got done.

A spokesperson for the Utility Reform Network said:

“And they said they would replace that section in 2009 and the Public Utilities Commission gave them that money.”

When PG&E requested the $5 million rate hike so they could repair that gas line, their written statement said:

“A pipe failure has a potential impact radius of 415 feet” and “the risk of a failure at this location is unacceptably high.”

They got that right.

Give Wall Street a trillion dollars to keep the economy from collapsing, and Wall Street keeps the money and gives everybody else the finger. Give Pacific Gas & Electric $5 million to prevent a deadly pipe explosion, and the pipe explodes anyway.