Judge imposes less strict orders on PG&E than expected

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must directly employ a team of vegetation management supervisors, bolster record-keeping on the age of critical equipment and follow stricter guidelines when replacing old hardware, the federal judge overseeing the utility's probation ordered.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup's Friday ruling replaced a more demanding set of conditions that could have forced PG&E to hire significantly more tree-trimmers and required contractors who assess transmission towers to carry enough insurance to cover public damages if their inspections are found to be deficient.

Alsup handles the utility's criminal probation for records falsification related to the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people. He's taken an active role in policing PG&E to help prevent it from starting more wildfires, including ordering it last year to shut off power lines during dangerous conditions. U.S. v. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., 14-cr-00175 (N.D. Cal., filed April 1, 2014).

During a May hearing, PG&E urged Alsup to reconsider his initial decision and proposed a more lenient set of conditions with federal prosecutors and a court-appointed monitor. The judge fully adopted those recommendations after the California Public Utilities Commission did not oppose them.

Under the new order, PG&E must employ an in-house team of tree-trimming supervisors. They will oversee thousands of contractors who do vegetation management work. But the utility will only have to hire 31 inspectors by 2021 opposed to a "sufficient number" indicated in Alsup's initial ruling.

Michael Aguirre, who has sued the state over multi-billion dollar wildfire funding bills and filed friend-of-the-court briefs in this case, emphasized the differences in the two orders. In addition to the new conditions offering no explanation as to whether the staffing levels it envisions is enough to protect public safety, he argued that it delays requiring PG&E to hire the employees until 2021 -- "a date well into the fire season."

"Californians face the frightening confluence of power outages, increased wildfire risks due to PG&E's criminal conduct and thinking, and the most challenging time in America's public health history," the Aguirre Severson LLP partner wrote, saying the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the threat of wildfires.

Aguirre proposed that Alsup instead reinstate the "sufficiency standard" he applied to the staffing of PG&E's vegetation management inspection teams in his initial order.

PG&E routinely fails to clear hazardous trees. The court-appointed monitor last year found 3,280 "risk" trees that the utility did not identify, including 15 "urgent" cases that could have caused fatalities or serious damage.

In one instance, the monitor discovered a tree singed by intermittent contact with a conductor inches away that had not been trimmed despite a report indicating otherwise. There were nine other similar cases of records falsification.

PG&E will also have to "conduct a reasonable search" for records about the age and date of installation of critical transmission tower components in high fire-threat areas as part of a program to determine the expected lifespan of certain equipment, according to the order. When such information is not available, it will make conservative estimates.

To supplement the improved record-keeping, Alsup ordered the utility to hire a crew to oversee equipment inspection of transmission lines. It will now be forced to replace decaying hardware within 90 days of when it get close to losing 50% of its material.

"Under no circumstances shall PG&E contend that the court has blessed 'approaching 50%' as an acceptable benchmark for replacement of cold-end hardware," Alsup clarified. "Safety requires replacement on a case-by-case basis."

In a dueling recommendation opposing the conditions proposed by PG&E, Aguirre questioned why PG&E should be allowed to follow more lenient record keeping guidelines when it's a "recalcitrant criminal felon." He said the new order narrows the geographic scope and type of records the utility must search and completely drops a requirement that it video every inspection of transmission line equipment.

PG&E said in a statement it remains committed to the safety of its customers and "doing right by the victims of past wildfires."

"We share the goals of the court, the United States government, the monitor and the California Public Utilities Commission to further improve wildfire safety for our customers and communities and to eliminate utility-caused wildfires," company spokesman James Noonan said in the statement.

The utility commission did not respond to requests for comment.