- PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG) CEO Geisha Williams is blaming climate change for the rash of fast-spreading California fires this year and last, saying the fires are evidence of how global warming has produced unusually hot, dry conditions that spawn more frequent and intense fires.
- But as Bloomberg reports, PG&E has a compelling reason to link the fires to the environment: State investigators have tied the utility's equipment, such as trees hitting power lines, to some of last October's fires that in total destroyed nearly 9K structures and killed 44 people.
- PG&E faces damage liabilities totaling as much as $17B and possible financial ruin unless the CEO can convince California lawmakers that the company’s problem is, in fact, a climate change problem, writes Bloomberg's Mark Chediak.
- Fellow California utilities, Edison International (NYSE:EIX) and Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) also have invoked the "don't blame us, blame climate change" defense, which increasingly may serve as a blueprint for utilities elsewhere.
- “No one is suggesting the utilities should get a free pass if they were negligent,”but the current legal policy of unlimited, strict-liability has the potential to financially cripple companies, Williams says.
- Now read: Fixed-To-Floating Preferred Arbitrage: Edison International
Original article