Incredible news coming from the Pacific Coast. The massive, extended rolling blackouts, wildfires, over a decade to fix utility infrastructure, yikes! It’s hard to believe that a single utility company bears so much responsibility for these woes.

The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal, in an unsigned editorial entitled Fires and Blackouts Made in Sacramento, offers this perspective:

The state Public Utilities Commission is in charge of enforcing state safety laws and regulations, which can carry penalties of up to $50,000 per violation per day. Yet PG&E received no safety fines related to its power-grid management over the last several years. The commission has instead focused on enforcing the Legislature’s climate mandates.

The article goes on to highlight the capital investments PG&E has made in order to meet its obligations under California green-energy legislation. In effect, the Editorial Board argues that capital that should’ve been directed to tree-trimming and upgrading infrastructure instead went to these unfunded mandates.

I’m not sure how well this argument holds up, but it certainly offers an interesting perspective. PG&E had a set amount of capital to spend, and management clearly made the wrong choice. The consequences are inconceivable in America today.