PG&E’s aged power poles were responsible for the Fly Fire, according to several published reports — a forest fire that recently merged into the terrible Dixie inferno. More damning still PG&E’s aged power poles likely sparked the Dixie Fire itself, one that destroyed the historic town of Greenfield and likely will become the worst conflagration in the history of California.
So far.
You may remember that in 2018, PG&E plead guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter after a fire caused by their equipment burnt Paradise, sending 84 people to an early grave, that beautiful town leveled.
The latest atrocity committed by PG&E is part of a long pattern of misfeasance and criminal neglect by a corporation that has reigned supreme in Northern California for decades, unhindered by the legislature, the courts, or politicians of either party .
You have your own problems, right?
In these times when so many people have been beset by endless crises, one right after the other, you may wonder why you should concern yourself with such things and why you should care.
For one thing if you live anywhere in the western US, even one not prone to forest fires, you and your family will likely breathe the toxic air created by these infernos. And if you live in northern California you will be forced to foot the bill for PG&Es negligence – every month and for years to come. You see PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection. And when they say protection they mean for their shareholders not their customers.
What’s more if you live in northern California PG&E is likely playing with fire in your own neighborhood. Next time you go for a stroll check out the power poles up and down your street. It’s very likely that you’ll discover many that lean to one side, and that nearly all of the aging wooden poles are rotting. Why? The Bay area and the areas north and east are home to some of the oldest power poles in northern California. Yet until recently, PG&E turned a blind eye to this condition. Why? They said it would be too expensive an undertaking. Now people have died due to PG&E’s commitment to one thing: their bottom line.
In your neck of the woods
What would happen if a strong wind or an earthquake knocked down a power pole in your neighborhood? The danger is not limited to power outages or fire. When there is a large earthquake (and that is not if but when) downed power poles may well block emergency vehicles from entering your neighborhood to put out fires, tend to the wounded and save lives.
Now some folks might say, “Hold on now, PG&E recently promised to begin burying 10,000 miles of lines in high risk areas, didn’t they?”
Yes, after families buried 84 of their loved ones killed by the Paradise fire PG&E made a commitment: 10,000 power lines will be buried underground.
In ten years.
And PG&E has 25,000 miles of lines in northern California.
Now survivors of the fire in Greenville are wondering what they are going to do, especially since PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection after destroying Paradise.
The Bottom Line
PG&E is responsible for millions of tons of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere hastening global warming; it has destroyed families and entire communities, while picking people’s pockets every month. It’s time for PG&E to be dismantled and put under municipal control so the power is with the people not the corporate elite.
