PG&E's Stock Price Is in Flames

For Californians, it’s time to take a deep breath literally and figuratively the state is finally a month removed from the last of its deadly wildfires, and air quality has returned to safe levels. Still, the effects of the crisis are hardly over: at least 87 people have lost their lives, 500 are still unaccounted for, and at least 150,000 acres of land are devastated meaning countless families can’t be home for the holidays. With these communities in mind, let’s start from the beginning. Is there someone to blame? The stock market seems to think so. Officially, no actor has been found solely guilty of causing the tragedy. And one would be remiss to not account for the big-picture scene set by climate change, which has doubled the area of forest land considered vulnerable to fire in the U.S. since 1980. It’s also worth recognizing the just  100 companies found responsible for 71% of global emissions last year. The stock market can be a cruel judge and jury, acting before all the evidence is in — but in watching prices, their clear choice of a culprit has emerged. Investigations and lawsuits have begun mounting against one company in particular: Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the San Francisco-based, publicly traded utility. Their potential role in the fires has cut PG&E market value in half — from $25 billion to $12 billion. According to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), PG&E has routinely experienced more fire incidents than other large utilities in the state, even when compared to other companies that operate in rural, fire-prone counties. Fire investigators have found “the company’s infrastructure [to be] at fault for some of California’s worst fires in that last three years,” and many suspect this includes a fatal decision last month to keep electricity flowing in Butte County (despite wind speeds surpassing the company’s safety threshold and a fire-alert declaration). While the causes of the flames are still under investigation, officials believe that the decision to keep working ignited the 151,000-acre Camp Fire outside of Paradise — the deadliest fire in California’s history.