California is On Fire

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California is On Fire

PG&E continues to be in the hot seat. After nixing power for months to over two million homes up and down the coast of California, the for-profit utility continues to implement a regular series of blackouts. These disruptions not only leave millions in the dark but disproportionately affects Black people and other vulnerable communities. This illustrates why ownership of the for-profit utility company needs to shift from Wall Street to consumers. If PG&E were owned by those who pay for its services, Wall Street would not be able to rake in billions at the expense of Californians whose lives depend on the utility, and preventable wildfires and blackouts would not happen.

Recently, California Governor's Gavin Newsome rejected a restructured, settlement plan because the plan would not lead to safe, reliable and affordable service as the bigger issue of the utility's management would still be a concern. PG&E is owned by Abrams Capital, Knighthead Capital and Redwood Capital, and these owners explicitly seek to siphon money from the companies they acquire- and as we have seen with PG&E, with little concern for the wellbeing of those harmed.

The wildfires didn’t have to happen...nor the loss of homes, businesses, and loved ones as a result. PG&E owners ignored fire risks in favor of profits. Had the owners of PG&E upgraded its infrastructure, added weather, camera, and satellite stations and not intentionally placed power lines near vulnerable trees, the growing number of fires PG&E is responsible for would not have happened. Black communities deserve better than a focus on “the bottom line” approach from predatory investors. Deliberately putting our folks in harm's way with no restitution is true to Wall Street form and the worst kind of greed.

Stand with Californians in demanding this Wall Street owned, for-profit utility becomes public.

Here is the Petition:

With PG&E now being bankrupt, we have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the state's energy future and ensure Wall Street nor any other corporation determines what that means. We are calling on PG&E to shift its ownership from Wall Street to consumers. As part of a climate justice campaign, we support the following:

The utility must be owned by its workers and the community members that use it in order to best make meaningful decisions, not Abrams Capital, Knighthead Capital and Redwood Capital that put profits over safety;

Californians shouldn’t have to pay for PG&E’s disasters, whether it’s through rate increases on customer electric bills or taxpayer-funded cost recovery. PG&E's owners should assume full financial responsibility for the consequences of their reckless decisions;

Stop putting dirty fossil fuel facilities and operations in Black, Brown and vulnerable communities, coupled with a managed decline of dangerous gas power plants, and protect low-income Californians from gas rate increases in the process;

Ensure emergency planning is culturally competent and community-driven. Californians who are underinsured, undocumented, linguistically isolated, medically vulnerable, experiencing homelessness, or otherwise hard to reach must be protected from wildfires and power shutoffs;

Ensure public spaces become climate resilience hubs with the clean renewable backup power with energy efficiency reinvestments in Black and vulnerable communities.