When will we finally hold PG&E and Southern California Edison accountable for the destruction they are causing through wildfires? In 2017, the state’s fire agency, Cal Fire, determined that PG&E equipment had sparked 17 wildfires and PG&E was sentenced to five years’ probation for having engaged in criminal conduct. In 2018, they violated those probation terms by causing the Paradise Fire through poorly maintained equipment, resulting in 86 civilian deaths and $30 billion property damage. Now, PG&E is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The district attorney is considering pressing murder charges, but hesitates. If you had violated your probation terms and caused 86 deaths plus $30 billion in damage, where would you be? In jail.
Southern California Edison has caused 90 percent of wildfires in Malibu, but has never been prosecuted. Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro acknowledged about the Thomas Fire: “[Edison] believes its equipment was associated with this ignition,” he said, advising investors to brace for a loss if the company is required to cover some or all of the fire damages. The only major fire not caused by Edison was the fire caused by two young men through an illegal campfire in 2007. The two young men were immediately prosecuted and jailed for a year. When will we finally prosecute and jail PG&E and Edison?
The law says that starting a wildfire is a crime in California, if done with “conscious disregard of substantial and unjustifiable risk.” It is indisputable that California has dry, warm climate and has been through seven years of drought. The native vegetation is dry, easily flammable brush and Southern California experiences typical Santa Ana winds, which are extremely strong, so they kindle and propel fires. In these conditions, the only sane way to run power cables is underground, where they would not be affected by strong winds, could not tear, and would not cause sparks to fly and cause fires. However, the power companies continue to insist on the cheaper, above-ground cables. To make matters worse, they run them on the cheapest possible poles made out of wood, which burn and then cause the cables to lie on the ground. Fire engines do not cross cables that lie on the ground, so whole neighborhoods have burned down, because the wooden power poles had burned and the downed cables scared off the fire department. According to the fire chief of Station 70, this was the reason why the entire La Costa neighborhood burned in 1993 and Pt. Dume burned in 2018. I believe this is “conscious disregard of substantial and unjustifiable risk” and, therefore, a crime.
In September 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed measure SB 901 into law, allowing utilities to bill their customers to pay for future legal settlements stemming from devastating wildfires, even if the blazes are blamed on the company’s mismanagement. The bill is aimed at preventing bankruptcy for PG&E. Do we really want to keep protecting and financing these utility companies that continue to endanger our homes and lives? In September. 2018, Edison said it wants to raise rates and spend $582 million to replace 3,400 miles of overhead power lines with insulated wire, but run them again above ground. They want to pass on those costs to ratepayers. After the Woolsey Fire, Edison replaced 1,900 power poles—again, above ground and again out of wood. Cheapest for them and most dangerous for us. Nobody has ever told us how much it would cost to solve this problem for good and put the power cables underground. Some sources say $3 million per mile, but what would the total be? Isn’t Edison responsible to offer safe equipment and to front the cost? Would the state help? Is there an alternative provider to Edison?
SB 901 asks power companies to prevent causing fires. This should mean putting cables underground and maintaining equipment well. PG&E and Edison don’t do that. Instead, Edison completely turns off all power to the Malibu 90265 zip code when winds reach a certain speed. They call it a PSPS—Public Safety Power Shut-Off—but it doesn’t help public safety; it endangers it. The day the Woolsey Fire started in Simi Valley and later in the afternoon was pushed by the winds into Malibu, Edison had already turned off all power in Malibu early in the morning. When the flames reached Malibu, the citizens there were in a trap. They had no functioning telephones, internet or television, and could not receive mandatory evacuation orders by the police. Cell phone reception is bad in Malibu during the best of times. Sheriffs and firefighters had to inform citizens with megaphones and by knocking on doors, which cost precious time and resources. Four people died because they did not make it out in time. A quarter of a million people were evacuated. Of them, 20,000 were Malibu residents, who had only one road out: the two-lane PCH. No authority regulated traffic, nobody opened a third lane. The drive from Malibu to Santa Monica, which normally takes 30 minutes, took six hours because no traffic lights functioned and every intersection became a stop sign. PSPS became a public threat. The fire was on both sides of PCH. If the wind had turned, the evacuees would have been trapped on PCH in an inferno like in Paradise, Calif., and many more people would have died. Without electricity, water pumps didn’t work, fire hydrants ran dry and firefighters had to watch whole neighborhoods burn, having been made powerless and waterless by Edison. Power shut-offs need to be outlawed!
PG&E and Edison are among the companies that pay the most for lobbying and the highest salaries to their CEOs. (Edison’s CEO salary is approximately $2 million per year, but some sources quote bonus payments of $8-$19 million per year.) They are publicly traded companies that have the responsibility to make the maximum profit for their shareholders. We cannot expect them to act ethically or sanely. Their task is not to look out for every citizen, but to look out only for those few who own their stocks. It is the responsibility of the CPUC [California Public Utilities Commission], the state entity that controls the power companies, to make sure that utility companies function in the best interest of all citizens, not just a few shareholders. It is the politicians that need to put pressure on CPUC to do that.
Malibu has some of the highest real estate prices in the country. Its residents pay approximately $70 million per year in property taxes and much more in income tax. Where does all that money go? With all its power outages and poor cell phone reception, Malibu is the most expensive Third World country in the world. It is home to some of the richest and most powerful citizens in the U.S. The likes of Daryl Hannah, Chris Cortazzo, Kim Basinger and Gerard Butler just lost their homes in the Woolsey Fire alone, yet nobody seems to pressure politicians, the CPUC or the utility companies to ensure the safety of our homes and lives. One ray of hope is Malibu Mayor “Zuma Jay” Wagner, who just fought the fire himself and lost his home because Edison’s power shut-off disabled the water pump and the fire hydrant ran dry. Jay lost his home and ended in intensive care. He wants to make Edison prevent power shut-offs and put their cables underground, but he needs two additional council members to help him. We need to support him in his efforts.
The underground electric cable was invented in 1883 by John Kruesi, who was a partner of Edison and head of the Edison Electric Tube Company. Most of Europe put its utilities underground in the 1920s-’50s. It’s time California does the same. At the very minimum, the cables for street lights along PCH have to be underground, so downed cables cannot block street access for fire engines anymore. That would have saved Pt. Dume. And the cables through highly flammable canyons must be underground. There cannot be any more wooden power poles. Yes, that would cost money, but these recurring fires cost billions, too. Property values would increase if beautiful ocean views would not be marred by ugly power cables and poles. Fire insurance would be lowered through diminished fire hazard. Most importantly: Our homes and lives would be safer.
We also need bigger water tanks and more firefighters. We need patrolling drones and more aircraft that can drop water. Let’s not repress our shock over the recent fires and pretend it won’t happen again. Nine of the 20 most destructive fires in the recorded history of California have taken place since 2010, a pace that is only accelerating. We need to take control of our utilities, subsidize alternative energies. In the cold, rainy Black Forest, a whole town has gone completely off the grid with the help of solar panels. Why can we not do that in wealthy, sunny Malibu? We urgently need to take charge of our utilities and our safety. Instead of Paradise in flames, we could have a true slice of heaven.
Angelica Nickel