Pacific Gas & Electric Co.has been ordered to pay a $1.6 billion penalty – the largest ever levied against a public utility – for a 2010 explosion in a gas pipeline it operated that killed eight people and destroyed dozens of homes in a San Francisco suburb.
The five-member California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 Thursday, with the commission president, Michael Picker, abstaining, to impose the penalty. Picker, however, called for a larger review of problems at PG&E, a move that The Associated Press says "suggests the energy behemoth could be broken up."
The AP writes:
"Picker said state safety citations against PG&E were rising, but that the utility was so big, with $1.6 billion in earnings in 2014, that it was able to shrug off financial penalties. ...
'The commission will study 'the culture of safety' and organizational structure of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which has its gas and electricity operations under a single corporate board and chief executive."
Responding to public health concerns about microplastics and pharmaceuticals in the nation's drinking water, the Trump...
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake has struck the Northern Molucca Sea region in Indonesia, the United States...
As the calendar soon turns to April, it appears that we can finally shed all talk...
