Wednesday, January 16th, 2019
Stephan: This story of California's PG&E, and its possible bankruptcy may not seem like a national story, but it is. As climate change exerts an ever-growing influence on weather events, the entire national power grid is going to be repeatedly damaged, and this story will play out again and again. Personally, this reality, plus the rise of non-carbon power generation I think is going to combine to make the grid out-dated, and too expensive to maintain. But how that happens, and what happens to the corporations that profit from the grid, and the workers that are employed by those corporations is unclear, as is its impact on the larger economy. Remember Kodak? Remember harness makers, or sailing ships for cargo? Things change and unless we prepare for the change it is always wrenching.
Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
A battle between California politicians and PG&E, the state’s largest utility, is being waged over who should have to pay the price of wildfire damage in recent years.
Why it matters: Companies are being forced to deal with the consequences of a changing climate, which is leading to more frequent and destructive wildfires and other types of disasters than ever before. PG&E’s situation is a warning to other power companies and businesses around the country.
The big picture: Last year was the worst wildfire season in California’s history.
- The Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise, was the costliest catastrophe worldwide, with $16.5 billion in damages, per reinsurance company Munich Re.
PG&E could be on the hook for billions of dollars in liability costs related to last year and the prior year’s wildfires, far more than its insurance would cover. The Camp Fire alone killed at least 86, and may have been triggered by a spark from PG&E’s power lines.
The mounting costs […]
I believe we need to take a long look at how we spend so much money on the military and how we can cut back on it to make the country better equipped to cope with climate change by changing the military spending to infrastructure spending. We do not need to be the world’s policemen when we need the money for other more important purposes.