PG&E charged in California wildfire last year that killed 4
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 nations 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 cant go to jail, so were 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
(18,187 posts)Auggie
(31,167 posts)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. Well just raise your rates. PG&E
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,031 posts)All utilities including wifi.
TeamProg
(6,120 posts)Unless there is direct / provable malfeasance, the execs all get off with few repercussions.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)If they keep killing people year after year, the corporation should be shut down and its assets should become publicly operated.