News

OPINION: Mike Florio, San Francisco Chronicle

The 2017 wildfire season left behind immense and tragic harm throughout California. Latest estimates show insurance claims totaling $12 billion statewide, leaving families and business reeling to recover. Some argue that financial fallout for the disaster belongs wholly to electric utilities, and it appears likely some of it will. Unfortunately, it is not the case that even large companies like PG&E — or any other utility — could foot the bill for all of the wildfire-related costs without causing serious harm to its customers and the rest of the state.

Based on the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention’s findings from its investigation into some of last year’s fires, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. improperly maintained trees that contacted power lines and ignited some fires. Should those findings be upheld, PG&E must take responsibility for its role in the disaster.

Steven Tavares, East Bay Citizen

It may be one of the most dastardly political schemes in recent state history. After the lead and paint industry in California was recently ordered to pay penalties that could run into the hundreds of millions to remedy illegal lead hazards across the state, the industry is now moving toward placing an initiative on the statewide ballot this November.

The lead lobby’s proposed initiative essentially negates the court ruling and transfers their financial liabilities to taxpayers by requiring the state to back a $2 billion bond to aid in the cleanup of lead. In 2000, Alameda County was one of 10 cities and counties in the state that initially sued five leaders in the lead industry.

Sarah Cafasso, Woods Institute

The perennial threat of wildfire is a growing reality for many California communities. In 2017, almost 9,000 wildfires burned over one million acres of California’s forests and communities across the state, with major fires burning as late as December. Longer, more frequent droughts, higher temperatures, and unpredictable winds from climate change all factor in to the developing landscape of fire modeling and resiliency in California.

To tackle this issue, a group of Stanford scholars joined California State Assemblymember Dr. Bill Quirk in Sacramento, speaking at a briefing on “Fire and the Future of California Forests.” Over 120 people from government, non-profit, and business sectors gathered at the Citizen Hotel in downtown Sacramento, where the panelists focused on practical solutions to wildfires.