PG&E must respond to article claiming it neglected known fire hazards, judge orders
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered PG&E Corp. to respond, "paragraph by paragraph," to a Wall Street Journal article that said the company has failed to upgrade hundreds of miles of high-voltage power lines despite knowing they could fail and spark wildfires.
William Alsup, a U.S. district court judge in Northern California, is overseeing PG&E's probation after the company was convicted of safety-related violations following a natural-gas explosion that killed eight people in 2010.
After an online version of the article was published Wednesday, he gave the company until July 31 to file a "fresh, forthright statement owning up to the true extent of the Wall Street Journal report" not to exceed 40 double-spaced pages.
"In the past, the offender has responded to some of the Court's questions by filing thousands of records and leaving it to the judge to find the needles in the haystacks," the judge wrote.
The company said Wednesday: "PG&E's most important responsibility is the safety of our customers and the communities we serve. We are aware of the Court's order and are currently reviewing it."
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State investigators have linked PG&E's equipment to wildfires that have killed dozens of people in recent years.
Judge Alsup earlier this year restricted the company from resuming its payment of shareholder dividends until it meets state and company wildfire prevention goals.