Take a COOL Guess – the Fun Quiz on Clean Energy.  Today’s Topic:  What Remedies Do We Have In Place When Our Power Utilities Betray Our Trust? 

Question:  Actually, this is a bonus “double question.” Earlier today the California Public Utilities Commission levied a fine against Pacific Gas and Electric, the power company that serves most of the northern part of the state and a bunch of the rest of the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.  The penalty was based on the 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno, a city just south of San Francisco, that destroyed an entire neighborhood, killing eight people and injuring 58.  Here are your two questions: 1) How large was the fine? 2) How many separate violations were found?

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

Relevance: Whenever a company, perhaps a utility like PG&E, or perhaps a DoD mega-contractor like Northrup Grumman, is caught having committed gross violations of the law, particularly when, as in this case, it smashes the public trust to bits, the very first thing it does is invest heavily in an extremely aggressive public relations campaign in an attempt to deal with the rebuke it’s brought on itself through its dishonesty.  Here’s one of PG&E’s latest PR blasts, stressing its ostensible heartfelt concern for public safety, in the wake (here’s a hint at the second question) of literally thousands of safety violations that have been rolling along for years before they finally resulted in this catastrophe.  If you can think of anything more revoltingly insincere than this series of advertisements–or, if you think I’m over-reacting–I hope you’ll enter a comment here.