California Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking a bankruptcy judge to keep PG&E Corp. on a short leash, requesting a cap on how long the state’s largest utility has to steer a course out of bankruptcy without worrying about rival restructuring proposals, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Democratic governor asked the judge overseeing the utility’s debt restructuring to limit the period during which it alone can propose a turnaround plan. That request by Newsom, who has emerged as a vocal critic of PG&E, came earlier on Wednesday, when California investigators later said they had concluded that the company’s equipment sparked the largest fire in the state’s history. PG&E wants the exclusive right until Nov. 29 to file a chapter 11 plan that would resolve damage claims from years of wildfires. The governor said that he wants an Aug. 15 deadline for PG&E to either file an exit plan or demonstrate sufficient progress to justify its maintaining control of its future. Read more.
In related news, California fire officials said yesterday that Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. power lines sparked a Northern California blaze that killed 85 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century, the Associated Press reported. Cal Fire said that transmission lines owned and operated by the San Francisco-based utility started the Nov. 8 fire in the Pulga area that nearly destroyed the town of Paradise in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The fire wiped out nearly 15,000 homes. Many of those killed were elderly or disabled. The oldest was 99. The investigation also identified a second nearby ignition site involving PG&E’s electrical distribution lines that had come into contact with vegetation. The second fire was quickly consumed by the initial fire. Read more.
