Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Criminal Negligence and Obstruction, California 2010

Pacific Gas and Electric Company was sentenced today for criminal negligence and obstruction tied to the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight people and flattened a neighborhood. Found guilty of multiple willful violations of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 and obstructing a federal investigation, PG&E must now submit to a sweeping probation program, including a court-appointed corporate compliance and ethics monitorship.

The verdict, handed down by U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson in San Francisco, mandates that PG&E complete 10,000 hours of community service and spend up to $3 million on public notice campaigns via print and television—admitting its criminal and neglectful conduct. The sentencing follows a five-and-a-half-week trial in August 2016, during which a federal jury convicted the utility giant on six felony counts: five for willful violations of federal pipeline safety laws and one for corruptly obstructing the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation.

The crimes stem from PG&E’s deliberate failures between 2007 and 2010—knowingly operating with inaccurate pipeline records, failing to identify critical threats to high-pressure gas lines, and neglecting to properly assess pipelines that had been over-pressurized, as required by federal law. Evidence proved the company ignored red flags for years, putting communities at risk while regulators were left in the dark. The explosion in San Bruno, which incinerated 38 homes, was the catastrophic result of this systemic disregard for safety.

Worse still, the jury found PG&E guilty of obstruction after it tried to mislead the NTSB. During the probe, the company handed over a policy document detailing how it handled pipeline defects—then abruptly withdrew it, claiming it was an unapproved draft submitted in error. The jury didn’t buy it. They concluded PG&E intentionally and corruptly attempted to impede the federal investigation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1505.

“Today, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company was sentenced for its crimes after having been found guilty of violating federal regulations designed to keep our citizens safe and obstructing an agency proceeding,” said U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch. “The court has imposed upon PG&E a monitor to ensure the company’s future compliance with the rules and regulations the company has chosen in the past to flaunt.”

While PG&E was acquitted of six additional pipeline safety charges, the conviction stands as a rare rebuke of corporate malfeasance with deadly consequences. The court’s order makes clear: no utility is above the law. But for the families of San Bruno, no sentence can undo the loss. As U.S. Attorney Stretch noted, “The failure of PG&E to deliver gas safely can have devastating consequences that no amount of fines and no monetary penalties can ever remedy.”

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