FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ) — PG&E has found guilty by a federal jury of obstructing investigators, after the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion 6 years ago, which killed 8 people and destroyed 38 homes.
Prosecutors say the San Francisco-based utility misled the feds, about the standard it was using to identify high-risk pipelines.
PG&E claimed its employees did the best they could, with ambiguous regulations, which they struggled to understand.
The stakes in the case were not substantial, as prosecutors recently decided not to pursue a potential $562 million penalty, if the company was found guilty.
However, it played a major role in the overhaul of the California Public Utilities Commission, which was accused of being overly cozy with the utilities it’s intended to regulate, primarily PG&E.
