The fines, which would be voted on next week, could be retroactive, and cost the utility company $20,000 per violation, per day. If all of the fines are approved, that will amount to $1 million per day.
The report failed to provide information related to construction, inspection, and maintenance, and at least one commissioner has publicly described the report as evidence of “willful non-compliance.”
From the San Jose Mercury News:
State regulators blasted PG&E on Wednesday for its response to a demand for critical gas-pipeline records, saying the utility engaged in “willful noncompliance” and threatening to level the toughest fines ever against the company for safety-related violations.
The withering criticism, and the potential of a stiff fine of up to $1 million a day, follows a report the utility delivered Tuesday to the California Public Utilities Commission that was supposed to prove that the pressure levels of PG&E’s pipelines were safe in the wake of the San Bruno explosion.
But Paul Clanon, the commission’s executive director, contends PG&E provided none of the requested documents and instead argued that many of its gas-line pressure levels were appropriate because that’s the level it had operated at historically.
Read the full article here.