California’s largest utility, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), today announced its intention to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, citing its exposure to wildfire liability claims of $30 billion or more. As NRDC warned months ago, potential adverse consequences include a loss of state oversight and damage to significant clean energy programs critical to reaching California’s climate goals.
At risk could be billions of dollars of funding for PG&E’s nation-leading clean energy initiatives, which are designed to help fight the effects of climate change like these tragic wildfires. For example, PG&E is the state’s largest investor in energy efficiency and electric vehicle infrastructure, with annual commitments well in excess of $1 billion. Other threatened initiatives involve grid upgrades, programs to support small-scale “distributed” (local) resources, and technology innovation.
To learn more, see this blog just posted by Ralph Cavanagh, energy co-director of NRDC’s Climate and Clean Energy program: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/ralph-cavanagh/pges-threatened-bankruptcy
