SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Pacific Gas & Electric Co. says it is prepared to pay the maximum fine of $3 million after a jury convicted the company of deliberately violating pipeline safety regulations before a deadly natural gas pipeline explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area.
But California’s largest utility is asking a federal judge not to restructure its bonus program for employees or require an advertising campaign publicizing its conviction. U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson is scheduled to sentence PG&E on Monday, and prosecutors want him to impose the bonus and advertising requirements. They say a $3 million fine alone would be a “drop in the bucket” for PG&E.
“PG&E’s crimes compel a serious sentence that will alter its culture for good,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo filed with the court.
The 2010 blast of a PG&E natural gas pipeline sent a giant plume of fire into the air, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes in the city of San Bruno.
Jurors convicted the company in August of five of 11 counts of pipeline safety violations, including failing to gather information to evaluate potential gas-line threats and deliberately not classifying a gas line as high risk. Prosecutors said the company deliberately misclassified pipelines so it wouldn’t have to subject them to appropriate testing, choosing a cheaper method to save money.