A federal judge in San Francisco is barring utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric from re-issuing dividends in favor of using the funds for reducing the risk of wildfires in the company’s service area.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, in a court hearing Tuesday, also said he will monitor PG&E’s compliance with new wildfire prevention rules governing tree-trimming near power lines, Kallanish Energy finds.
Alsup is supervising the utility company’s felony probation stemming from its conviction in the case of a natural gas pipeline explosion in 2010.
“A lot of money went out in dividends that should have went into tree trimming,” Alsup said to PG&E acting CEO John Simon, The Associated Press reported. “PG&E pumped out $4.5 billion in dividends and let the tree budget whither. So a lot of trees should’ve been take down that were not.”
The judge’s order does not include the condition requiring PG&E to inspect its entire transmission system as he originally proposed, and which PG&E said could cost more than $100 billion.
Company spokesman James Noonan told NPR “we share the court’s commitment to safety and understand that we must play a leading role in reducing the risk of wildfire throughout Northern and Central California.”
In March, Alsup had intimated he planned to order PG&E not to issue dividends until it complied with “all applicable vegetation management requirements.”
PG&E argued it had already suspended dividends in 2017. The dividend payments may not resume without Alsup’s permission.
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