Brockovich Joins Wildfire Survivors To Demand California Halt PG&E Bankruptcy
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KPIX 5/AP) — A big name took to the steps of the state legislature Tuesday on behalf of California fire victims.
Consumer activist Erin Brockovich and survivors of the 2017 and 2018 wildfires called on the state to stand up for them against Pacific Gas and Electric.
Brockovich rose to fame while fighting PG&E in the 1990s over a toxic chemical in the water supply of a Southern California community.
PG&E announced last week it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because it can't afford to pay at least $30 billion in expected damages due to deadly 2017 and 2018 Northern California wildfires.
"I'm mad, I think we should all be mad," Brockovich said as she stood outside the Capitol in Sacramento alongside people who lost their homes to destructive fires.
Wildfire victims said the utility shouldn't be filing bankruptcy at all; instead, it should pay them. "If PG&E is to go bankrupt and in any way minimize the full recovery that these people deserve, they have nowhere to go," said attorney and Camp Fire survivor Joseph Early.
Survivors' concern is that Chapter 11 could mean less money for people who've dealt with the most catastrophic of losses. That's a real possibility, because in the pecking order of payback, survivors come "near the end of the line," according to bankruptcy attorney Ben Young. "There's a priority scheme, and taxes, employee wages, consumer deposits getting paid first," said Young.
Then come the rest of the creditors, like fire survivors, said Young. If the liabilities still outweigh the assets, by the time it's their turn, survivors could get very little.
Survivors say that is unacceptable. "We should all be beyond frustrated," said Brockovich, who is part of the legal team representing victims of the 2017 fires.
The cause of a 2017 fire that swept through Santa Rosa and the 2018 fire that destroyed Paradise are still under investigation. PG&E is under scrutiny in both cases, and lawsuits have been filed by people who lost their homes and are underinsured or lack insurance.
Brockovich and Noreen Evans, a former state lawmaker representing wildfire victims, suggested the Legislature should allow PG&E to take out state-backed bonds to cover the costs of the 2018 fire and potentially pass some costs to ratepayers to avoid bankruptcy.
Lawmakers allowed the utility to pay for 2017 wildfires in a similar manner but did not apply the same standard to 2018 fires, something the lawyers called a serious oversight.
Critics, including Evans, have called the law a "bailout" for the utility in the past. Now, she said, 2018 wildfire victims deserve to be treated the same way as 2017 wildfire victims.
"It's not a bailout, although I've referred to it as a bailout in the past," she said.
State Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa, who authored last year's wildfire bill, said 2018 was not included because lawmakers didn't want to discourage PG&E from focusing on its safety if it thought it would have a guaranteed way to pay for wildfire damage.
Beyond the short term, Brockovich urged state lawmakers to adopt stricter oversight of PG&E, a utility that she said has a well-documented history of negligent or dangerous behavior that the state has let continue for too long.
"Be at the head of the table and take control of this runaway monopoly," she said.
PG&E is "committed to working cooperatively with regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders to continue to provide PG&E customers the safe gas and electric services they expect and need," utility spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said.
The company's board has decided bankruptcy under Chapter 11 is "the only viable option," she said.
Currently U.S. Judge William Alsup is overseeing a jury verdict against PG&E stemming from a deadly 2010 gas pipeline explosion, and he is considering whether the company's role in recent wildfires was a violation of its probation in the criminal case.
Alsup has noted that California fire investigators referred 12 wildfires caused by PG&E equipment for possible criminal prosecution. He has proposed imposing new probation terms on the utility, including that it remove or trim all trees that could fall onto its power lines, poles or equipment in high-wind conditions and re-inspect its entire electric grid.
The judge gave PG&E until Wednesday to respond to his proposal.
Brockovich said regulators should consider forcing the company to bury or cover its lines.
Evans also suggested a PG&E bankruptcy could threaten electric service to the utility's millions of Northern California customers. But Gov. Gavin Newsom has said the state is not as risk of power shutoffs as it was during PG&E's 2001 bankruptcy amid the state's energy crisis.
The utility said Tuesday in a regulatory filing it has lined up $5.5 billion in credit and loans to continue operating as it prepares for the bankruptcy.
Newsom said last week it's his goal to prevent the bankruptcy from going through but it may not be possible.
© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
