PG&E to pay up in Dixie Fire settlement with impacted counties

Apr. 12—A settlement with Pacific Gas and Electric utilities company and the counties of Plumas, Lassen, Tehama and Shasta has been reached concerning the Dixie Fire, announced Tehama County District Attorney Matt Rogers on Monday.

The district attorneys of the wildfire-impacted counties in civil court sued PG&E over the company's responsibility for the Dixie Fire, which ignited below a PG&E Bucks distribution circuit between poles on July 13, 2021, as a result of a 65 foot tall, damaged and decayed Douglas Fir tree falling on conductors and eventually burning hundreds of homes and nearly a million acres of both private and public property. It was the largest non-complex wildfire in California history and the second largest in United States history.

The civil prosecution settlement obligates PG&E to make rapid payments by this summer to those who lost their homes in the Dixie Fire; to continue to make extensive improvements in the safety and reliability of PG&E infrastructure in the North State and the affected counties.

In addition, the utilities giant is subject to oversight by the involved district attorneys through an independent safety monitor and to pay nearly $30 million to recompense local charities and organizations involved in mitigating the effects of the fire.

PG&E is also responsible to pay penalties and costs of the investigation to the district attorneys' offices — none of which can be recoverable in customer rates.

"This resolution was crafted with the goal of providing for the safety of our respective communities while making whole those who lost their homes by forcing expedited payments from PG&E," Tehama County District Attorney Matt Rogers said. "From the safety upgrades to the independent monitoring and good faith community contributions, which do not get passed on to ratepayers, this resolution accomplishes what we set out to do. This resolution is important for our county but especially important for our neighbors to the east in Plumas and Lassen who were particularly devastated by the Dixie Fire."

The consortium of district attorneys, labeled the "North State DAs" in the settlement, filed a civil rather than criminal complaint in Plumas County Superior Court accusing PG&E of unlawful business practices. After negotiations with PG&E, a stipulated Final Judgment was filed Monday resolving the case.

The DAs noted the civil Judgment allowed more flexibility in demanding changes in PG&E's safety practices, and to obtain rapid restitution to those who lost homes and property in the Dixie Fire, while putting the company on essentially a five-year probation.

The North State DAs said the settlement was part of a larger settlement involving the Sonoma County District Attorney's settlement of the 2019 Kincade Fire, that also occurred today in the Sonoma County Superior Court.

The North State district attorneys expressed appreciation for the technical and legal help by Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch and her consumer/environmental protection staff in crafting the Dixie Fire civil complaint.

The district attorneys stated it was decided to pursue the Dixie Fire as a civil prosecution rather than a criminal prosecution to maximize the return to the fire victims rather than to seek criminal penalties.

The district attorneys noted the maximum criminal fines possible in the Dixie Fire, where thankfully no one died, was only $329,417. Civil contributions, penalties and payouts established for PG&E in the settlement judgment will instead be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The district attorneys also expressed appreciation for PG&E's good-faith cooperation in the settlement process noting the company's behavior and safety practices seem to be improving under its new leadership.

Additionally, the required five-year independent district attorney safety monitor will give assurances to the public that PG&E will live up to its promises.

"All North State DAs agreed that an experienced and independent monitor was a core necessity of this agreement," Rogers added. "Having an independent monitor who is an expert in the field, is out in the field and reporting to the DAs is essential in enforcing this resolution."

The various sections of the final judgement commit PG&E to expedite direct payments for home loss.

This includes providing an expedited compensation program for individuals whose home were destroyed in the Dixie Fire. The amount offered will be $400 per square foot for owner-occupied primary residence destroyed, or $240,000 for mobile home destroyed' $140 per square foot for contents of rental residences destroyed, or $150,000 for contents of mobile home destroyed; $150 per square foot for other structures.

PG&E will have 30 days to verify and make or reject an offer, while the claimant homeowner/renter has 30 days to accept or reject offer. If accepted, PG&E has 30 days to pay.

PG&E will also establish on-line portals and in-person help centers to assist individuals in submitting claims.

For commercial timber landowners who suffered losses in the Dixie Fire, PG&E is required to implement a mediation program to rapidly resolve any claims by commercial timber landowners for loss of timber due to the Dixie Fire.

Rogers stressed how important the resolution is in supporting the impacted counties' vital timber industry.

In addition, the settlement requires PG&E to create a minimum of 100 new PG&E in-house positions in the North State DA counties to conduct electrical system inspections, greatly increasing the percentage of in-house employees for greater accountability.

A training program for tree crew and line inspectors, modeled after the Butte College Program, at Feather River College will be created by the utilities company, which will also establish a program to perform actual visual inspection on all sides of potential strike trees near power lines in high fire threat areas.

PG&E's new "Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings" must be implemented by the end of 2022 to rapidly and automatically shut off power if an object comes into contact with any of the approximately 5,229 miles of high fire threat area distribution lines in the North State DA Counties.

Other safety requirements are underground at least 400 miles of distribution lines in the North State DA Counties by December 31, 2024; increase real time weather stations and wildfire cameras in the North State DA Counties; increase and enhance equipment and vegetation inspections of PG&E equipment and lines in the North State DA Counties; and consult on PG&E's Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in North State DA Counties.

"My sincere thanks goes out to the DAs in Plumas, Lassen, Butte, Shasta and Sonoma counties for our unified effort to push for this resolution," Rogers said. "Without such strong support from other counties and their willingness to fight for each other this resolution would not have been possible."

The Dixie Fire burned 961,780 acres in federal, state and private lands in Plumas, Lassen, Tehama, Shasta and Butte counties before it was contained on October 26. It burned 700, 592 acres in Plumas County, equal to 42 percent of the county; 138,484 acres in Lassen County; 71,727 acres in Shasta County; 26,438 acres in Tehama County; and 24,540 acres in Butte County.

The Fire destroyed 1,311 structures and damaged 94 others, of those destroyed, 763 were residential homes, and destroyed the Plumas County communities of Greenville, Canyon Dam and Indian Falls and caused major damage to the communities of Chester and Janesville.