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Also the state wants to control PG&E but doesn’t want to take any of the blame for how PG&E are regulated. Of course they are nominally “private”. The state als

Also the state wants to control PG&E but doesn’t want to take any of the blame for how PG&E are regulated. Of course they are nominally “private”. The state also bears responsibility but of course they have a ready scapegoat! Remind me again, which regulations required PG&E to keep such poor records that blowing up a San Bruno neighborhood was a result? Which regulations forced them to dump toxic chemicals (hexavalent chromium) into the Hinkley water? Which regulations forced PG&E to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on stock buybacks instead of undergrounding high risk wires? Which regulations forced PG&E to pay out copious dividends instead of vegetation management?

iudqnolq 7y ago
Did you mean which public commission signed off on all of that? The answer: The California Public Utilities Comission. Did CPUC directly tell them to break the law? No, but CPUC approved every budget that criminally neglected maintenance. And when the San Bruno explosion happened as a predictable result, CPUC worked with PG&E to pick a judge they liked. https://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Officials-demand-criminal-probe-of-PG-amp-E-s-5767564.php https://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Officials-demand-criminal... So yes, our state government shares responsibility for all of it.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Did you mean which public commission signed off on all of that? No. Did CPUC directly tell them to break the law? No, but CPUC approved every budget that criminally neglected maintenance. You mean the maintenance budget that PG&E redirected to executive compensation? So yes, our state government shares responsibility for all of it. Well, no. If you steal a cookie from a cookie jar that's your own damn fault. If you steal a cookie from a cookie jar that's not the fault of your parents for leaving an unlocked cookie jar within reach.
  - iudqnolq 7y ago
    It is if your parents raise you to ignore the law and then pay off the people you steal cookies from as an adult. They're responsible in part for the monster they created.

iudqnolq 7y ago

Did you mean which public commission signed off on all of that? The answer: The California Public Utilities Comission. Did CPUC directly tell them to break the law? No, but CPUC approved every budget that criminally neglected maintenance. And when the San Bruno explosion happened as a predictable result, CPUC worked with PG&E to pick a judge they liked. https://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Officials-demand-criminal-probe-of-PG-amp-E-s-5767564.php https://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Officials-demand-criminal... So yes, our state government shares responsibility for all of it.

inferiorhuman 7y ago
Did you mean which public commission signed off on all of that? No. Did CPUC directly tell them to break the law? No, but CPUC approved every budget that criminally neglected maintenance. You mean the maintenance budget that PG&E redirected to executive compensation? So yes, our state government shares responsibility for all of it. Well, no. If you steal a cookie from a cookie jar that's your own damn fault. If you steal a cookie from a cookie jar that's not the fault of your parents for leaving an unlocked cookie jar within reach.
- iudqnolq 7y ago
  It is if your parents raise you to ignore the law and then pay off the people you steal cookies from as an adult. They're responsible in part for the monster they created.