California Governor Newsom Blasts PG&E Directors Plan: Karen M. Lockhart Statement

The PG&E Board Of Directors: who should sit on it? After California Governor Newsom blasted the proposed plan, Karen M. Lockhart, the representative for those who’ve sued PG&E, wrote the following statement that was sent to Zennie62Media

San Francisco – The Official Committee of Tort Claimants in the Chapter 11 cases of PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas & Electric Company (“PG&E”) is in full agreement with the concerns expressed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in his letter today to John Simon (Newsom criticizes PG&E’s plan for a new board of directors), interim CEO of PG&E. Newsom’s letter criticized PG&E’s poor judgment in seeking to reconstitute its board with, as the Governor notes, “hedge fund financiers, out-of-state executives and others with little or no experience in California and inadequate expertise in utility operations, regulation and safety.”

Over the past four years, PG&E electrical lines and equipment have been involved in four disasters that have killed more than 180 people, destroyed more than 20,000 structures, decimated entire communities and burned almost 3% of the state of California. As a result, thousands of victims and survivors have been living in makeshift or temporary shelters while trying to recover compensation from PG&E to begin the process of reconstructing their lives. PG&E’s January 29, 2019 bankruptcy filing dealt another cruel blow to the victims, stopping the process of compensating victims with no solution in sight.

We fully support the Governor’s call urging PG&E “to reconsider and appoint board members who understand the imperative for change and the need to prioritize the interests of the people of California.” Lockhart added: “We demand that PG&E do the right thing for fire victims, the right thing for California consumers, and the right thing for its own investors: put forward a board with experience as regulators, safety experts and clean energy leaders and one that is focused on California, not just Wall Street.”

Zennie62Media will have updates on the issue of the reconstitution of the PG&E Board Of Directors.