PG&E faces new probation terms aimed at cutting wildfire risk

FILE PHOTO: Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) trucks are seen parked on a road between homes destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, U.S., October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

April 2, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Tuesday imposed new criminal probation terms on PG&E Corp aimed at reducing the risk that the bankrupt power producer’s equipment will spark more destructive wildfires.

U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California at a hearing barred PG&E from reissuing dividends so funds can be used to cut wildfire risk.

The probation stems from the company’s felony conviction in a deadly 2010 natural gas pipeline blast in San Bruno, California, near San Francisco, that killed eight people and injured 58 others.

PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29 in anticipation of liabilities from wildfires, including a catastrophic 2018 blaze, the Camp Fire. It killed 86 people in the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.

At a Jan. 30 hearing, Alsup, who is overseeing the company’s probation, had said he would consider imposing additional probation terms in the aftermath of Camp Fire. San Francisco-based PG&E expects its equipment will traced as a source of the blaze.

The probation process is separate from PG&E’s bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by Nick Zieminski in New York)

Source: OANN