Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California Utility Company Knew For Years That Its Outdated Equipment Could Spark Fires, Investigation Shows
The Wall Street Journal: PG&E Knew For Years Its Lines Could Spark Wildfires, And Didn’t Fix Them
PG&E Corp. knew for years that hundreds of miles of high-voltage power lines could fail and spark fires, yet it repeatedly failed to perform the necessary upgrades. Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal under the Freedom of Information Act and in connection with a regulatory dispute over PG&E’s spending on its electrical grid show that the company has long been aware that parts of its 18,500-mile transmission system have reached the end of their useful lives. The failure last year of a century-old transmission line that sparked a wildfire, killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise wasn’t an aberration, the documents show. (Blunt and Gold, 7/10)
The Wall Street Journal: Judge Orders PG&E To Respond To Journal Article
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered PG&E Corp. to respond, “on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis,” to a Wall Street Journal article that said the company has failed to upgrade hundreds of miles of high-voltage power lines despite knowing they could fail and spark wildfires. (Blunt, 7/10)
