Catherine Sandoval spoke to KXTV news in Sacramento on PG&E’s “criminal thinking”. The California utility company is now guilty of the biggest corporate manslaughter case in U.S. history. Professor Sandoval, who served as a state public utilities commissioner from 2011-2016, made the comments in a lengthy interview for the ongoing ABC10 Originals documentary series FIRE – POWER – MONEY.
“The way that they behave makes no rational sense for people who are supposed to know how to run an electric utility,” said Santa Clara University law professor Catherine Sandoval. “This is why I have come to believe and be very concerned that they continue to engage in criminal thinking.”
Professor Sandoval also was quoted by the East Bay Express in an article on PG&E’s power shutoffs during high fire danger weather. The article was reprinted by the Mercury News.
“It’s a band aid covering up the real problem,” said Santa Clara University Professor Catherine Sandoval, a former member of the state Public Utilities Commission. Sandoval pointed to a recent report from a federal monitor, appointed as part of PG&E’s felony probation for the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people, who found the utility failed to conduct inspections of nearly 1,000 vulnerable transmission lines or focus its tree-trimming work on high-risk areas.
