Evizda

For-profit utility giant PG&E cut off power to nearly 180,000 more Californians Thursday in a purported effort to prevent devastating wildfires, a move that sparked outrage from environmentalists who said the company is making the public pay for its refusal to act on the climate crisis.

“For the second time in two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Californians will be left in the dark by their electricity company and public officials who haven’t done enough in the face of climate change,” Rachel Rye Butler, climate campaigner with Greenpeace USA, said in a statement. “Vulnerable communities continue to pay the price.”

“PG&E is not alone in shouldering the blame. The fossil fuel industry has polluted Californians’ air and water for decades and fueled the climate crisis, creating the hotter, drier conditions partially responsible for catastrophic wildfires.”
—Rachel Butler, Greenpeace USA

“PG&E is not alone in shouldering the blame,” added Butler. “The fossil fuel industry has polluted Californians’ air and water for decades and fueled the climate crisis, creating the hotter, drier conditions partially responsible for catastrophic wildfires and the need for power shutoffs across the state.”

California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom slammed PG&E earlier this month for the blackouts and the corporate mismanagement that made them necessary. “They’ve created these conditions,” said Newsom. “This can’t be the new normal.”

But Butler said Newsom should also be pressed to take climate action that challenges the power of the oil and gas industry and begins “a just transition to phase out oil production in California.”

“Governor Gavin Newsom is pointing fingers at PG&E,” said Butler, “but things are only going to get worse if Newsom lets the fossil fuel industry carry on business as usual.”