TIL: PG&E goes bankrupt because of climate change

[timelets]

In less than a decade, PG&E, which serves 16 million customers, saw the risk of catastrophic wildfires multiply greatly in its vast service area, which stretches from the Oregon border south to Bakersfield. Weather patterns that had been typical for Southern California—such as the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that sweep across the region in autumn, stoking fires—were now appearing hundreds of miles to the north.

PG&E scrambled to reduce fire risks by shoring up power lines and trimming millions of trees. But the company’s equipment kept setting fires—about 1,550 between mid-2014 through 2017, or more than one a day, according to data it filed with the state.

...
On Monday, PG&E said it planned to file for Chapter 11 protection by month’s end, citing an estimated $30 billion in liabilities and 750 lawsuits from wildfires potentially caused by its power lines.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pg-e-wildfires-and-the-first-climate-change-bankruptcy-11547820006

Infrastructure upgrade costs in rural areas are prohibitively high.

Comments

[juan_gandhi]

Роскошная идейка. Все валить на потепление.

[timelets]

Климат реально меняется. Раньше надо было заменять оборудование только в южной Калифорнии, а теперь по всему штату, особенно на севере, где много лесов и реднеков.