California orders Pacific Gas to pay $1.4bn penalty for 2010 explosion

Regulatory judges decide the state’s largest utility, PG&E, must pay for a pipeline explosion that killed eight near San Francisco

Associated Press in San Francisco
theguardian.com, Tuesday 2 September 2014 15.15 EDT

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A crater filled with water marks the site of an explosion that caused a fire the massive fire burning in a residential neighborhood 9 September 2010 in a San Bruno, California. — A crater filled with water marks the site of an explosion that caused a fire the massive fire burning in a residential neighborhood September 9, 2010 in a San Bruno, California. Photograph: Max Whittaker/Getty Images

California regulatory judges have issued a $1.4bn penalty against the state’s largest utility for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that engulfed a suburban San Francisco neighborhood in fire, killing eight people and prompting national alerts about ageing pipelines.

The California public utilities commission on Tuesday announced the figure reached by two administrative law judges against Pacific Gas & Electric Co, saying it would be the largest safety-related penalty it had ever imposed.

PG&E can appeal the fine.

The commission previously ordered PG&E to pay $635m for pipeline modernization in the wake of the September 9, 2010, blast in the suburban San Francisco community of San Bruno.

It was California’s deadliest utility disaster in decades.