4 ms·

The liability problem PG&E faces is pretty damn bad - their underinvestment and faulty equipment may cause the fires, but they have little to no control over we

The liability problem PG&E faces is pretty damn bad - their underinvestment and faulty equipment may cause the fires, but they have little to no control over weather and climate patterns, nor the forest management practices, that have greatly amplified the consequences. Legally they are liable for all the damages, despite the factors outside their control amplifying that liability.

katbyte 4y ago
If they didn’t underinvest in equipment/maintenance in the pursuit of profit they would be causing less fires and have a lower liability.
pdntspa 4y ago
PG&E made their bed, now they must lie in it. We have and have had sufficiently advanced climate modeling to inform whatever decisionmaking they may have needed when they had the best opportunities to invest and maintain infrastructure. Our forest management policies have not changed in forever and California faced seemingly annual firestorms in the years leading up to PGE's disaster. People have been sounding the alarm on climate change for YEARS and YEARS. The current predicament is no excuse.
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  Forest fires have nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with changed and/or insufficient forest management policies. You want less forest fires? Fucking remove all the overgrown underbrush and older trees that have overstayed their welcome. The Native American Indians of the area would be happy to tell you this, something that worked for millenia before westerners came along, said "MUH CUTE TREEZ", and refused to take care of the environment. Places like Yosemite National Park even refuse to put out naturally occuring forest fires anymore, because guess what: You need periodic forest fires to avoid disasterous forest fires.
  - pdntspa 4y ago
    My point is that we have understood the properties of our stagnant forest management practices for some time. Global warming does indeed have everything to do with the effects of forest management, what do you think creates these ridiculous once-in-100-year rainstorms that cause a surge in undergrowth that accelerates these massive wildfires? It is a vicious cycle and feedback loop. Weather patterns the previous year create a tinderbox for the next. And then we aggressively suppress the inevitable fires that spring up, leaving even MORE unchecked undergrowth and denying the forest bed the nutritional products of burned foliage, which just worsens its health and creates even BIGGER fires when they eventually roll around.
  - dendrite9 4y ago
    Global warming has nothing to do with leaving a hook holding a power line in place for nearly 100 years without inspecting it and a culture of running things until failure. The evidence in the Camp Fire was pretty damning.
HWR_14 4y ago
While it's true is a combination of several factors, they have metal that's been wearing for close to a hundred years physically supporting transmission infrastructure. It fails, and when it does wires fall. This is PG&E's direct fault.

katbyte 4y ago

If they didn’t underinvest in equipment/maintenance in the pursuit of profit they would be causing less fires and have a lower liability.

pdntspa 4y ago

PG&E made their bed, now they must lie in it. We have and have had sufficiently advanced climate modeling to inform whatever decisionmaking they may have needed when they had the best opportunities to invest and maintain infrastructure. Our forest management policies have not changed in forever and California faced seemingly annual firestorms in the years leading up to PGE's disaster. People have been sounding the alarm on climate change for YEARS and YEARS. The current predicament is no excuse.

Dalewyn 4y ago
Forest fires have nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with changed and/or insufficient forest management policies. You want less forest fires? Fucking remove all the overgrown underbrush and older trees that have overstayed their welcome. The Native American Indians of the area would be happy to tell you this, something that worked for millenia before westerners came along, said "MUH CUTE TREEZ", and refused to take care of the environment. Places like Yosemite National Park even refuse to put out naturally occuring forest fires anymore, because guess what: You need periodic forest fires to avoid disasterous forest fires.
- pdntspa 4y ago
  My point is that we have understood the properties of our stagnant forest management practices for some time. Global warming does indeed have everything to do with the effects of forest management, what do you think creates these ridiculous once-in-100-year rainstorms that cause a surge in undergrowth that accelerates these massive wildfires? It is a vicious cycle and feedback loop. Weather patterns the previous year create a tinderbox for the next. And then we aggressively suppress the inevitable fires that spring up, leaving even MORE unchecked undergrowth and denying the forest bed the nutritional products of burned foliage, which just worsens its health and creates even BIGGER fires when they eventually roll around.
- dendrite9 4y ago
  Global warming has nothing to do with leaving a hook holding a power line in place for nearly 100 years without inspecting it and a culture of running things until failure. The evidence in the Camp Fire was pretty damning.

HWR_14 4y ago

While it's true is a combination of several factors, they have metal that's been wearing for close to a hundred years physically supporting transmission infrastructure. It fails, and when it does wires fall. This is PG&E's direct fault.