U.S. District Judge William Alsup recently said PG&E may have been "criminally reckless" for failing to remove a tree near the site of last year's deadly Zogg Fire. As state fire investigators probe whether PG&E's power lines caused that blaze in a remote part of Shasta County, energy expert Steve Weissman has been questioning the wisdom of performance incentives that California regulators give to utilities. In a recent paper, Weissman argues such incentive programs can have unintended and sometimes catastrophic consequences by encouraging companies to prioritize reliability over safety. He suggests this approach may be a factor contributing to fire danger. Weissman spoke with The California Report's Lily Jamali.
Guest: Steve Weissman, Senior Policy Advisor, Center for Sustainable Energy; Lecturer, UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy