PG&E: Other Scandals

If you take a close look at the sheer volume of documented scandals listed on this page, the first image that comes to mind is that PG&E is hardly a good citizen. Here you will find scandal after scandal that the company has been publicly caught in. Convictions have resulted in many fines, some very large. The company has escaped prosecution of other scandalous acts, by mere technicality.

There is no doubt that this company has exhausted its credibility as these stories give testiment to a bully that can get away with illegal acts that include the death of people, just by paying fines. Nobody at PG&E has ever gone to jail for an illegal action.

The purpose of placing all of these scandals, back to back should have been the job of the mainstream media, but it should be clear that isolating the scandals over time from one another allows the public perception that PG&E is just going about the business of producing electricity rather than the fact that this company has a criminal record that would have put an average citizen in jail for a very long time.

For the major PG&E scandals please see the Hetch Hetchy page, CVP page, Diablo Canyon page or deregulation page.

This is not a complete list of scandals. If you have documentation of other scandals please contact us. Please note that most of the links below are referenced news stories. Due to copyright laws, you will not be able to see these documents.

Here's a summary of some of PG&E's scandals:

• 1905: Abe Ruef Scandal Timeline: Abe Ruef, more commonly known as boss Ruef was prosecuted for bribing the SF board of supervisors over the city's gas lighting contract. He was paid by Frank Drum of Wells Fargo and PG&E to carry out this bribe and many more.
• 1917: SF labor leader Tom Mooney was fingered for a bomb attack by a Pinkerton investigator who worked for PG&E, and was jailed for 20 years until the first democrat in the state's history was elected govenor. Mooney had come to town to organize a union at PG&E.
• The company financed the Greater California League, spending $200,000 in 1922 to kill a statewide initiative drive to municipalize utilities in California. Two more attempts also failed due to PG&E and friends tactics, such as red baiting and more.
• The company and its financial backers bought out locally owned power companies all over California from the 1890's up to 1930.
• The company came up with the tactic of publicly offering its stock to the public to offset political concerns about who really owned and benefitted from control of the company.
• Participated in the national campaign to bury the controversial history of public vs. private power in the U.S. by influencing the textbook companies that wrote the history books for students in the country. Very few people today know of the importance of the 1935 PUHCA act or the roll electric utilities played in causing the great depression of 1929-42.
• 1978: Opposed lifeline electric rates in the state, but failed.
• 1980: Caught in PCB transformer scandals, with a majojr explosion in SF resulting in evacuation of part of the financial district.
• 1980's Designed and built the Helms Stored River project, that went nearly 10x's over original budget and killed a score of workers.
• PG&E was a coalition partner in destroying the grassroots based alternative energy movement in the state that was culminated in their FERC appeal that killed PURPA contracts in the state in 1994.
• PG&E took the national lead in the mid 80's, with their U.S. Supreme Court case that killed Citizen Utility Board's across the country. The Nader inspired CUB's had succesfully gained access to PG&E's electric bill here when the CPUC allowed TURN to do inserts.
• As the result of contamination at a San Jose building in the late 1980's, PG&E is convicted of fraud and fined $30 million.
• PG&E's was part of a coalition of California corporations that sponsored the Pacific Legal Foundation and its SLAP suit against the Abalone Alliance that put it out of existance by 1985.
• PG&E is fined $14 million for covering up thermal plllution at Diablo Canyon for nearly a decade that resulted in a massive dieoff of Abalone along the central coast.
• PG&E was one of the main players along with the Palo Alto based EPRI, in the national agenda to deregulate the electric industry here and nationally.
• The San Diego team of Steve Peace and Governor Wilson led the team plan to give the state's utilities the disasterous deregulation mess. It included a $28 billion bonus to cover all the construction costs of Diablo Canyon and SoCal Eds' SONGS reactors.
• PG&E starting preparing for deregulation in the early 90's by Cutting costs. In 1987, PG&E was given a rate increase for tree trimming, but pocketed the money. A 1990 wildfire resulted in a government lawsuit that ended in an $8 Million settlement. Then the company was fined $2 million for a 1994 wildfire. The PUC started its own investigation of the tree trimming scandal and found that PG&E had broken rules 500,000 times.
• In 1991 PG&E withheld vital information to the CPUC about a gas contract it had, resulting in substantial financial gain for the company. Six years later the CPUC fined PG&E $850,000 fine for lying to the agency.
• The first progessive mayor ever for Oakland calls for a doubling of PG&E franchise fees.
• In 1996, Assembly Bill 1890 gives PG&E $500 million for blackout damages caused by the company's failure to spend previously allotted maintenance money!
• The company is sued  for extortion by Fresno couple.
• Hayward residents are caught up in a 1996 PG&E settlement scam over power surge damages to their property.
• The company secretly settles (for millions) with 33 San Jose Residents for a 1996 gas leak that caused a massive expolosion and damages to their properties.
• PG&E hides behind 70 year old law that allowed them to escape a 1993 natural gas anti-trust lawsuit filed by Stanislaus County.
• PG&E is sued for discrimination against gay workers.
• The company agrees to pay $100,000 over a PG&E worker's electrocution.
• Another Worker sues over PCB contamination.
• A Diablo Canyon worker, turned whistleblower is viciously attacked by the company.
• The company shows up on a national worker's safety project over Asbestos at its facilities.
• As part of the deregulation process, PG&E is allowed to spin off dozens of companies that sell energy services to the public. These companies are then caught by the PUC for misleading advertising. The company was also ordered to give back $33 million to ratepayers due to illegal relationships the company was having with the former affiliates including undercharges for services that gave unfair financial advantages.
• PG&E attempts to corner an exclusive contract for power to the new Presidio National Park, but runs into the Bay Guardian campaign over years of unpaid fees.
• PG&E takes the money from its sale of power plants and reinvests it out of state, primarily in New England. Even this gambit has failed as their National Energy Group is now up for sale due to poor financial results.
• The El Dorado Irrigation District files a $150 million lawsuit against PG&E in 1998 when PG&E backs out of a 70 year old water agreement with the district causing water rates to jump 100 fold.
• PG&E sells its controversial SF plants in June of 1998 to avoid the closure campaign by Bayview Hunters Point residents.
• PG&E pays $440,000 to settle the city claims against the utility for the December 1998 blackout.
• Just after PG&E wins part of the $28 billion from state ratepayers to cover its stranded costs at Diablo, the company pushes for a $1.2 billion ratehike, just as we are all being told that deregulation is going to lower our electric rates. The $1.2 billion request is one of the largest ever, prior to the crisis in 2001.
• In 1997, a highly contaminated PG&E site becomes another major health and contamination battle, even bringing Jesse Jackson to town to bat for the low income residents of the Midway public housing projects. Go here for more on Midway
• Check out the $400 Million Chromium Contamination claims that resulted in the making of the The Erin Brockovich movie. PG&E attempted to escape from the long suit during their $100 million litigation campaign during their federal bankruptcy proceedings, but failed.
• PG&E buys a dirty old floating power barge, and tries to get clean air wavers to run it in the bay, but fails.
• Its Diablo Canyon facility is operating without a state Water Pollution Permit.
• Oh, yes and its spent large amounts of money many many times to defeat public power initiatives in San Francisco and elsewhere. See PGE Power Politics for details

Additional Resources