SACRAMENTO, Calif. — PG&E Corp.'s five years of criminal probation are ending, but not before the supervising judge delivered one last blistering lecture about its troubled safety record and suggested that California's largest utility be carved in two.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, in an extraordinary eight-page "final comments" filed Wednesday, complained that conditions had dramatically worsened despite the company's efforts to reform.
"While on probation, PG&E has set at least 31 wildfires, burned nearly (1.5) million acres, burned 23,956 structures, and killed 113 Californians," he wrote. "PG&E has gone on a crime spree and will emerge from probation as a continuing menace to California."
During the probation period, which ends Jan. 26, Alsup frequently sparred with PG&E lawyers over the company's missteps and demanded extensive reports on what PG&E was doing to improve conditions on the ground. "Safety is not your No. 1 thing," he told utility officials during a court hearing in San Francisco in early 2019.
In his latest court filing, the judge acknowledged that the company had implemented "some important wildfire safety reforms," including its public safety power shutoffs.
But he said its decision to continue outsourcing much of its vegetation-management work to independent contractors resulted in "sloppy inspection and clearance work" in the forests where many of California's worst wildfires have started.
"During these five years of criminal probation, we have tried hard to rehabilitate PG&E," Alsup wrote. "As the supervising district judge, however, I must acknowledge failure."
Responding to Alsup's critique, the company said: "We acknowledge that we have more work to do. In our past filings, we emphasized that PG&E's new leadership team is intensely focused on creating a climate at PG&E where everyone and everything is always safe, and have outlined various steps this team has taken to deliver on this goal.
"PG&E has become a fundamentally safer company over the course of our probation."
Alsup said he had the authority to extend the duration of PG&E's probation but decided not to after federal prosecutors declined to pursue that option. The prosecutors said state courts are the proper venue for any further punishments.
He said PG&E should be split into two companies, with one serving the most hazardous wildfire areas. "Less sprawling utilities would be easier to train and to instill practices that truly put safety first," he wrote.
After being driven into bankruptcy in early 2019, the company resisted suggestions that it be carved up or taken over by the state. But it did agree to appoint safety officers for different regions of the state, as part of a deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom to smooth its way out of bankruptcy.
PG&E was placed on probation in January 2017 after being convicted on six felony charges in connection with the fatal 2010 natural-gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno. In those five years, the company has been blamed for multiple major wildfires, including the 2018 Camp fire in Butte County, the deadliest in California history; the 2019 Kincade fire in Sonoma County, which forced the evacuation of 180,000 residents; and last year's Dixie fire, the second-largest ever in the state.
Alsup took unusual steps in overseeing PG&E's probation. He ordered a delegation of company executives to accompany him to Paradise, where community leaders described how the Camp fire destroyed much of the town in November 2018. PG&E later pleaded guilty to 85 counts of felony manslaughter in connection with that fire.
At one point Alsup proposed ordering PG&E to inspect its entire 100,000-mile network of power lines to prevent wildfires. But he backed down after the California Public Utilities Commission said the plan was unwieldy. The commission also complained that the state, not Alsup, had "exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the safe and reliable operation of the electric system."
Even as the probation period ends, PG&E continues to face legal and financial woes because of wildfires. It has been indicted in connection with the Kincade fire in Sonoma and the fatal 2020 Zogg fire in Shasta County.
The federal Justice Department, along with local authorities, are investigating the company's role in last year's Dixie fire, which burned 963,000 acres across multiple counties. Cal Fire has determined that the fire started when a tree brushed against PG&E's power equipment in a remote area near the Feather River.
PG&E's new chief executive, Patti Poppe, has told The Sacramento Bee that the company has made extensive improvements that are making Californians safer, such as enhanced tree-trimming programs and a program to bury thousands of miles of wires underground.
"Something has changed at PG&E and we want people to know that," she said.
However, she said climate change continues to intensify wildfire risks throughout the company's territory.
