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KQED's Forum

‘California Burning’ Documents Fall of PG&E

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2727 Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“It’s hard to say exactly when PG&E Corporation began to fall,” writes Wall Street Journal energy reporter Katherine Blunt. But the deep decline of the state’s largest utility was hardly more apparent than in the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, the blaze ignited by PG&E’s deteriorated equipment that killed 85 people and destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. Blunt’s new book “California Burning” explains how the Camp Fire exposed the utility’s systemic problems — including chronic mismanagement and criminal neglect of its infrastructure — and why PG&E’s failures are not just a California story, but a cautionary tale for the entire nation’s power grid. Guests: Katherine Blunt, energy reporter, Wall Street Journal; author, "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America’s Power Grid" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:32.0

From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim. Coming up on forum, Pacific Gas and Electric is California's largest utility, as well as one of the nations, responsible for powering millions of homes.

1:37.8

But for years, PG&E also endangered millions due to chronic mismanagement and neglect. In 2020, it pleaded guilty to the deaths of

1:46.6

84 people in a fire that was sparked by its equipment. On behalf of PG&E, I apologize, and I

1:53.1

apologize personally for the pain that was caused here. How did this once innovative company fall?

2:00.0

That's what Catherine Blunt documents and her new book, California Bernie,

2:03.4

the fall of PG&E and what it means for America's power grid.

2:06.5

She joins us.

2:12.9

Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim.

2:15.9

It was a single rusted hook about the width of a fist, and in 2018, that hook snapped, dropping the high-voltage wire it held, and creating the spark that would ignite the campfire.

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