PG&E Disasters Due to Lack of Maintenance Continue to Mount

By Ken Hale, As published in The Union

PG&E has a long history of negligent maintenance on most of their equipment, powerlines, and underground gas system. This negligence has been going on for many years and has resulted in major California disasters. It is completely reasonable to assume that the breakdown at Spauling Dam and the South Yuba Canal were caused by lack of maintenance. Now this community is potentially faced with substantial economic losses from a lack of water supplied by Spaulding and the South Yuba canal. A hard look at PG&E maintenance for those facilities would seem in order.

PG&E is an unreliable company. According to Federal Court records and documents from the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission), PG&E has neglected maintenance on practically everything it controls for many years. The corporation has a “use it until it fails” attitude about maintenance according to the CPUC. The practice behind this lack of maintenance is, in the words of a CPUC commissioner, caused by a corporate rationale of profit over safety/maintenance. In the cases of Spaulding Dam and the South Yuba Canal, both appear to have been used until they failed.

So let us delve into PG&E history regarding negligent maintenance. The Trauner Fire of 1994 was here in Nevada County. I was the chief investigator on that fire. During that investigation, Cal Fire subpoenaed PG&E maintenance records for the years preceding 1994 In examining these records we found emails from PG&E management that stated it was cheaper to pay fines for breaking the law than it was to trim the trees away from powerlines. We found that PG&E corporate had diverted a massive amount of money from both tree trimming and general maintenance to executive bonuses and dividends.

Since Trauner Fire, PG&E has been responsible for major disasters due to lack of maintenance and falsification of records according to the CPUC. In 2012, the CPUC found that PG&E management diverted over $100,000,000.00 from safety and maintenance over a period of years and given it to themselves as bonuses. Federal Judge William Alsup called PG&E a criminal institution for its corporate culture of profit over maintenance and safety.

A) The Federal Courts found that the gas explosion in San Bruno in 2010 was a result of negligent, non-existent maintenance, and falsification of records. Eight people were incinerated. 108 structures were damaged or destroyed. CPUC fined PG&E $1,600,000,000.00. Federal court found PG&E guilty of six felonies, yet no one went to jail.

B) 2008 Rancho Cordova explosion resulted from poor maintenance. CPUC fined PG&E $38,000,000.00.

C) 2014 Carmel explosion. CPUC found that PG&E had a “disregard for public safety” and fined the corporation $36,000,000.00.

PG&E causes a multitude of wildfires every year from vegetation growing into powerline, aged power poles that simply fall over, and old powerlines that break from age. The CPUC found that PG&E was about 30 years behind on replacement of both wooden poles and aging powerlines. From 1994 to 2016, PG&E caused 4,148 wildfires according to Cal Fire records. Those listed below qualify as crimes against the citizens of this State.

A) Butte Fire of 2015 incinerated 2 people and turned 921 structures to ash along with 70,898 acres. PG&E was fined 8.3 million dollars. A grey pine marked for removal months before was left in place. The pine fell into the powerlines causing this deadly fire.

B) Wine Country Fires of 2017: This series of fires were all caused by PG&E powerline coming into contact with vegetation that should have been removed. These fires burned 31 people to death, turned 7,772 structures to ash, and blackened 144,987 acres of land.

C) Camp Fire of 2018: This is the deadliest fires in California history. It incinerated 85 people and burned 18,804 structures to the ground, along with 153,336 acres. The cause of this fire was a broken ring on a transmission tower that had worn out. It had been wearing away on the tower for just under 100 years. These people died because it was cheaper for PG&E to use that ring until it failed rather than spend money to replace it.

D) Kincade Fire of 2019: This fire burned 374 houses along with 77,758 acres. It was ignited by a transmission line that broke due to age and fell to the ground.

E) Zogg Fire of 2020: Killed 4 people including an 8-year-old girl and burned 56,338 acres. The fire was caused by a grey pine that had been marked for removal two years earlier, but due to cuts in vegetation management, was never removed.

F) Dixie Fire of 2021: One person was incinerated. Acreage was 963,309 (1,500 sq. mi), along with 1,329 structures. Cause was an untrimmed tree in contact with powerlines.

All of these disasters were due to lack of maintenance in one form or another. So now we come back to Nevada County. A portion of the South Yuba canal slid down the hill and a valve at Spaulding stopped working in the main flume that supplies water to NID. Are one or both of these due to lack of maintenance? State and federal courts have all found PG&E wanting when it comes to maintaining anything except executive life styles. So now NID will take the brunt of a problem probably caused by PG&E’s lack of maintenance. Through NID, we the customers, will be hit with greatly water supply because a multi-million-dollar corporation is more interested in bonuses and dividends than it is in maintaining its facilities. Maintenance cost money. It reduces profits.

This piece was written to highlight problems caused by PG&E including the lack of water coming into NID ditches. There is much more that could be included, but this creates a pretty good picture of why PG&E is involved in so many disasters. It is a problem that has a very long history, one that points a finger directly at PG&E corporate management as the responsible party.