Bohemian: Juiced ( PD Manager is registered lobbiest for PG&E)

https://img442.imageshack.us/img442/...1206151647.png

Juiced

PG&E poured $2 million into the Rebuild Northbay Foundation as the utility ramped up its political machine after 2017 wildfires

BY WILL CARRUTHERS

As summer brought blue skies to the North Bay, a recent editorial in Santa Rosa's Press Democrat was uncharacteristically out of sync with the editorial stances of California's two largest newspapers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom was pushing hard on state legislators to rubber-stamp AB 1054, a complex bill that would, among other things, establish a $21 billion "wildfire fund" that would be half funded by ratepayers. If it passed, the state's investor-owned utilities could dip into the monies to pay for damages from future fires caused by their equipment.

Newsom urged legislators to pass the bill before leaving for the summer break on July 12, citing concerns about the approaching fire season and a threat from Wall Street credit rating agencies to downgrade the lending status of the state's three utilities.

The L.A. Times and San Francisco Chronicle weren't persuaded. On July 11, the Times editorial board urged the Assembly to "say no to being rushed by Wall Street into the hasty adoption of a complex law that puts Californians on the hook for billions of dollars."

"It's more important to get AB 1054 right than it is to get it passed quickly," the Chronicle wrote. "The state Assembly must resist the pressure and stop giving this bill a fast run to the governor's desk."

For its part, the Press Democrat took an opposite view of the bill. The local paper of record ran an editorial that downplayed criticisms of AB 1054 and urged the Assembly to fast track the controversial bill.

"Despite some claims to the contrary, this bill isn't a bailout for PG&E or the state's other investor-owned utilities, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric," the PD's July 11 editorial argued. "It does offer them some protection so long as they follow the rules, including spending $5 billion of shareholder funds on fire prevention and submitting wildfire safety plans annually for state approval. ... There's no reason to wait any longer."

In its editorial, the paper did not disclose that Darius Anderson, managing member of the paper's parent company, Sonoma Media Investments, is a registered lobbyist for PG&E. Nor did the Press Democrat's board of editors, which includes Sonoma Media Investments CEO Steve Falk, disclose that the Rebuild Northbay Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Anderson to receive funds for "rebuilding" fire-devastated communities—is almost entirely funded by PG&E.

Public records reveal PG&E regularly hands out tens of millions of dollars to law firms, lobbyists, and community, business and political organizations as it strives to guide the conversation around the besieged energy corporation's future, not to mention California's future in the age of climate disruption.

But one PG&E post-fire contribution to a nonprofit does not appear in paperwork filed with state regulators: On Dec. 26, 2017, PG&E contributed $2 million to the Rebuild Northbay Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Anderson in the wake of the fires. Neither PG&E, the Rebuild Northbay Foundation nor the Press Democrat drew public attention to the generous and tax-deductible contribution.

Billions of dollars of corporate profits are at risk should state government take action to hold PG&E shareholders accountable for corporate negligence. For the quarter preceding the 2017 North Bay fires, PG&E reported a $2.2 billion net profit—an astoundingly profitable 12.5 percent margin, according to net margins posted by macrotrends.net.

Then, back-to-back fire seasons, linked in part to PG&E's poorly-maintained equipment and aging transmission infrastructures, sent the investor-owned utility's stock price tumbling.

Suddenly an existential question arose: Would Californians be safer if the badly managed utility's assets were purchased by the state and municipal utility districts? That was an issue left for another day: although the state has the authority to close down and purchase the utility, state lawmakers and executives have not moved in that direction. Indeed, critics say AB 1054, which Newsom signed into law on July 12, makes it harder for a public takeover of the utility or any of its assets, should that option be raised again.

In the meantime, PG&E continues to invest heavily in legal and political damage control.

By the time the company declared bankruptcy in January 2019, it had paid California and New York City white-shoe law firms $100 million for advice, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Continues here