PG&E Ordered to Pay Record $1.6 Billion for Deadly Gas Blast
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California regulators imposed the largest penalty for a U.S. natural-gas utility, ordering PG&E Corp. to pay $1.6 billion for failures that led to a deadly 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb.
A faulty weld on the pipeline caused an explosion and fire rupture that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in San Bruno, California. PG&E, owner of the state’s largest utility, committed 2,425 violations of safety rules in the decades leading up to the incident. The company still faces as much as $1.13 billion in federal criminal fines for the blast and has committed to spend $2.8 billion to improve pipeline safety.