
PG&E-friendly wildfire bill being prepared by lawmakers in wake of lethal fires - masonic
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/20/pge-friendly-wildfire-bill-being-eyed-by-state-lawmakers-in-wake-of-lethal-butte-county-inferno/
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lacker
It seems like an odd quirk of liability law that all of the fire damage is
blamed on PG+E if the initial spark that started the fire was PG+E’s fault.
Surely some blame lies elsewhere as well. I think homeowners need to be paying
fire insurance costs proportional to fire risk to properly incentivize fire
protection (and I say this as a California homeowner in a somewhat fire prone
area).

In the end, PG+E is regulated so heavily that any costs they pay will
basically just be passed on to consumers. The solution to the increased fire
risk is not “blame PG+E”.

~~~
paul7986
California the land of sky high housing & rent, insane deadly forest fires,
homelessness like no other state, landslides, earthquakes... it just doesn't
sound very appealing.

What are the positives ... chasing and potentially realizing your creative
(music/film) or tech dreams there? That can be done in other cities like
Nashville or possibly close to here in a few years with Amazon building in
Crystal City, VA (other big tech companies may follow). Well love to hear the
positives of living in California!

~~~
paul7986
Hmmmm i was seriously asking in a nice way as I don't live in California.

I've only been there for vacations, competing on a reality tv show and an
unpleasant meeting with Google re: buying one of my apps.

~~~
jtmcmc
you were in no way asking in a nice way. You were incredibly condescending in
a post about a natural disaster striking the area. Don't be disingenuous.

~~~
paul7986
Sorry you feel that way ... wasn't my intent!

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hydrox24
I want to know if backburning is a common practice in California, or in the
USA at all.

In Australia a big part of a Firey's job is running controlled burns in the
(relatively) low fire risk season to keep the amount of flammable material
around cities and property to a minimum.

It is a continuation, in a way, of a much more ancient indiginous practice of
regularly burning large swathes of bush. It is very much a part of the natural
ecosystem here.

~~~
tolk460
Im a wldland firefighter from the northern Rockies, just returned from a
deployment to the Woolsey incident (LA and Ventura counties).

Yes, prescribed burns are common in the off season for all fire districts.
However, CalFire has some unique challenges [1] that most of the other states
do not have to deal with when it comes to air quality and sufficient water
conditions during their shrinking off season.
[https://www.kqed.org/science/1927354/controlled-burns-can-
he...](https://www.kqed.org/science/1927354/controlled-burns-can-help-solve-
californias-fire-problem-so-why-arent-there-more-of-them)

~~~
tolk460
I'll add statistics for the 2018 fire season that includes southern and
northern California [1] at a combined 55,000 acres versus the northwest (WA,
OR) of a similar geographic size [2] and atmospheric conditions to Northern CA
at over 100,000 acres in prescribed burns.

[1]
[https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf](https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf)
(page 6) [2] [https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/](https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/)

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dangjc
If someone pours gasoline over everything, but someone else lights the match,
why do we put all the blame on the match lighter? Building flammable homes
right next to super dry, brush filled forests is just an invitation for
disaster.

~~~
ip26
_why do we put all the blame on the match lighter?_

Because we know how to effectively employ "scapegoating" to hide our own
misdeeds.

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berti
PG&E = Pacific Gas and Electric, an energy distribution company, for anyone
else outside the USA.

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tomohawk
A unanimously passed bill to address the potential for wildfires was vetoed by
the governor in 2016.

[https://freebeacon.com/issues/california-gov-browns-veto-
wil...](https://freebeacon.com/issues/california-gov-browns-veto-wildfire-
bill-faces-scrutiny/)

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Blackstone4
Note that PG&E is being held liable under current law for fires started at the
site of it's equipment. Regardless of whether or not PG&E was at fault due to
lack of maintenance. So when PG&E is found liable then the public and media
often conflate it with being at fault. Two different things.

~~~
masonic
Note that SB 901, the recent PGE bailout over _last year 's_ fires (Coffee
Park, etc.), is illegally being applied retroactively to this year's fires
(see George Avalos' article in the Mercury).

It doesn't even take effect (legally) until 2019.

~~~
Blackstone4
Who is applying it illegal?

I feel like your statement is misleading. Regulators have come out and said
they don't want PG&E to go bankrupt. PG&E and the regulators are probably both
supportive of extending the existing legislation to cover 2018.

However I am not aware of PG&E or regulators having acted illegally. Publicly
stating an opinion before taking action is not illegal.

Plus the bailouts are generally being used to fund PG&E's rebuild on fires
where they weren't at fault (from a common sense perspective) but were found
liable under California law (see my earlier statement).

People are angry and want someone to blame even tho this was a natural
disaster. With current laws, PG&E is being painted as the bad guy and are
stuck between a rock and a hard place.

