Get this: PG&E actually had the balls to ask the state this week if they wouldn't please be so kind as to offset the fine they're expected to be on the hook for for the 2010 San Bruno gas-main explosion. They'd like to get credit for the $221 million they claim to have spent on testing and pipeline changes following the blast — basically all the shit they should have done before they killed eight people and decimated a neighborhood.

It took them until December to finally admit liability in the explosion, which is deplorable enough. But now to even ask this feels like the biggest slap in the face to the public and to the families impacted by the disaster. PG&E should pay, and they should pay dearly, in every way possible, case closed. Whether they're paying money out to victims, or to the city of San Bruno, or the state, they should just keep paying.

If the Public Utilities Commission accepts the proposed deal, PG&E will get off without having to pay any real restitution in the way of a fine to the state's general fund. But they say that if their request is rejected, they will still gladly pay.

Says Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, "It's an absurd offer; it would be more absurd if it were accepted. This money was spent to protect their interests, and it all went to things that should have been done previously. They couldn't take the chance of another disaster. That should be on their dime, not ours."

[Chron]

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