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Dissatisfied that fines dominate the $1.4 billion penalty that two state administrative law judges have levied against PG&E for the deadly San Bruno gas explosion, a state senator said Friday that he will introduce a bill earmarking most of the fine for pipeline improvements instead of the state's general fund. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dissatisfied that fines dominate the $1.4 billion penalty that two state administrative law judges have levied against PG&E for the deadly San Bruno gas explosion, a state senator said Friday that he will introduce a bill earmarking most of the fine for pipeline improvements instead of the state's general fund. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will appeal a $1.4 billion penalty that two state regulatory judges imposed for more than 3,700 safety violations leading up to the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, the company said Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must pay a record $1.4 billion in fines and other penalties for more than 3,700 violations of pipeline safety laws leading up to the deadly San Bruno natural-gas explosion, two administrative law judges said Tuesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must pay a record $1.4 billion in fines and other penalties for more than 3,700 violations of pipeline safety laws leading up to the deadly San Bruno natural-gas explosion, two administrative law judges said Tuesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

California's top utility regulator invited a federal official to a state-sponsored gas safety conference last year in a letter nearly identical to one drafted by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., whose management was deeply involved in orchestrating the event, newly released documents show. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The California Public Utilities Commission has abruptly fired a state lawyer who was pressing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to account for which gas pipelines it failed to test before the San Bruno disaster, The Chronicle has learned. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The California Public Utilities Commission has abruptly fired a state lawyer who was pressing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to account for which gas pipelines it failed to test before the San Bruno disaster, The Chronicle has learned. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should be fined for not telling San Bruno officials it was seeking a reduction in fines for the 2010 pipeline explosion that leveled a neighborhood because it had been penalized in another case, the city said Friday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The California Public Utilities Commission has returned $375,000 that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid as a natural-gas safety penalty, after regulators realized that accepting the money could jeopardize their effort to fine the utility as much as $2.5 billion for violations stemming from the San Bruno pipeline disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The California Public Utilities Commission has returned $375,000 that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid as a natural-gas safety penalty, after regulators realized that accepting the money could jeopardize their effort to fine the utility as much as $2.5 billion for violations stemming from the San Bruno pipeline disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State regulators, facing criticism for failing to enforce pipeline safety laws three years after the deadly San Bruno disaster, have established what they call an "aggressive program of citations" designed to give utility companies a financial incentive to boost safety. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

State regulators, facing criticism for failing to enforce pipeline safety laws three years after the deadly San Bruno disaster, have established what they call an "aggressive program of citations" designed to give utility companies a financial incentive to boost safety. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If California regulators adopt a proposed $2.25 billion penalty against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. over the deadly 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, the company would be able to deduct an estimated $495 million of that amount from its taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In language and in dollars, state regulators have significantly toughened their stance on Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for a September 2010 pipeline disaster resulting from the company's "unreasonable conduct and neglect for decades." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

California regulators have proposed fining Pacific Gas and Electric Co. at least $300 million for the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, after an earlier proposal for a more lenient penalty provoked weeks of infighting among state officials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

California regulators have proposed fining Pacific Gas and Electric Co. at least $300 million for the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, after an earlier proposal for a more lenient penalty provoked weeks of infighting among state officials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Under pressure to punish Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, the California Public Utilities Commission's safety division has dropped a proposal that would have limited the utility's penalty to the money it was already spending to upgrade its gas system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The infighting within the California Public Utilities Commission over how to punish Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for the 2010 San Bruno disaster culminated Wednesday in a shakeup that left the agency's top lawyer - a former PG&E attorney - off the high-profile case. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The head of safety enforcement for the California Public Utilities Commission denied Tuesday that he had threatened state attorneys in a dispute over whether to fine Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for the San Bruno disaster and said he is entitled to carry a gun in the agency's offices - though he said he hadn't done so recently. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The overriding goal of any penalty against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight people should be to greatly reduce the chances of a recurrence with PG&E or any other utility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s top executive said Thursday that customers may not see any notable change in their monthly bills if California regulators penalize the utility $2.25 billion over the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A top lawyer with the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday angrily rejected his bosses' assertions that he and his team asked to be reassigned from pursuing Pacific and Electric Co. for regulatory violations in the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

State regulators should force Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to pay $3.85 billion for causing the 2010 natural gas pipeline blast that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in San Bruno, city leaders argued Friday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The California Public Utilities Commission legal team investigating Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s culpability for the San Bruno natural-gas explosion was abruptly reassigned this week, sending the agency into turmoil as it made its case for whether the company should be penalized more than $2 billion for violating safety rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

California officials responding to the deadly 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion have proposed penalizing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. $2.25 billion, a punishment designed to be so severe that the company would be forced to change its ways. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It seems rather odd to even call it a "penalty." The Consumer Protection and Safety Division of the California Public Utilities Commission is recommending that the "punishment" for Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s decades of insufficient attention to safety should be to spend $2.25 billion to do what it should have been doing all along. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Let's not forget: PG&E is not the only culprit in the decades of inattention to safety leading up the September 2010 San Bruno disaster. The California Public Utilities Commission was supposed to be imposing and enforcing safety standards. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shareholders should have to spend $2.25 billion to fix the company's gas pipelines in the wake of the 2010 explosion in San Bruno, but levying a fine against the utility for the dozens of regulatory violations it allegedly committed over decades "does not make sense," a state regulatory agency said Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shareholders should have to spend $2.25 billion to fix the company's gas pipelines in the wake of the 2010 explosion in San Bruno, but levying a fine against the utility for the dozens of regulatory violations it allegedly committed over decades "does not make sense," a state regulatory agency said Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

PG&E Corp. profit inched up in this year's first quarter, even as the cost of responding to the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion passed $1.4 billion, the company reported Thursday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state Public Utilities Commission abruptly put off a symposium on gas pipeline safety after the city of San Bruno objected to the event, raising concerns that it could be an attempt to influence the outcome of penalties that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. may face for the 2010 fatal explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state Public Utilities Commission abruptly put off a symposium on gas pipeline safety after the city of San Bruno objected to the event, raising concerns that it could be an attempt to influence the outcome of penalties that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. may face for the 2010 fatal explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One day after declaring that Oakland was in an "ongoing state of emergency," Mayor Jean Quan jetted off to Washington, D.C., for a week of hobnobbing and inaugural celebrations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. offered to pay a $550 million fine to resolve state regulatory charges connected to the San Bruno pipeline explosion, but government and consumer groups rejected the deal because the utility wouldn't admit it failed to maintain a safe gas system, according to sources close to the talks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers will pay nearly two-thirds of the $1.8 billion it will cost to upgrade the company's natural-gas pipelines, which were exposed as potentially unsafe by the 2010 explosion in San Bruno, the California Public Utilities Commission decided Thursday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Former Sen. George Mitchell and his law firm have offered to withdraw as mediator in talks over how much Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should be fined for the San Bruno pipeline explosion after the city and consumer watchdog groups voiced their opposition, officials said Thursday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Consumer advocates joined the cities of San Bruno and San Francisco on Tuesday in calling on former Sen. George Mitchell and his law firm to withdraw as mediator in talks with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. over possible fines for the 2010 San Bruno pipeline disaster, saying the firm has a conflict of interest because it represents PG&E's insurance company. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

State regulators have found a way to make the San Bruno pipeline nightmare even worse. After halting public comment on looming fines, the Public Utilities Commission wants to farm the dispute out to a private mediator - a decision that's left the public in the lurch. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ratepayer groups and the city of San Bruno on Wednesday denounced the "unilateral" appointment of former Sen. George Mitchell to mediate talks over how much Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should be fined for safety violations in the 2010 pipeline disaster that killed eight people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The $4,500 that Oakland port Maritime Director James Kwon allegedly shelled out to entertain shipping executives at a Houston strip club may be only the most embarrassing example of the port's misspent public dollars. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two state Public Utilities Commission judges halted public hearings late Thursday over Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s financial liability for the San Bruno pipeline explosion until at least next month, to allow for closed-door settlement talks between the company and state regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Why in the world would the California Public Utilities Commission ask a judge to suspend public hearings in favor of private negotiations on fines that PG&E is going to pay the victims of the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion? Whom does the commission believe it represents? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A state senator called Friday for an audit of the agency that oversees workplace safety in California oil refineries, after a Chronicle investigation revealed that regulators have not been performing the intensive inspections called for under federal guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s parent corporation could absorb $2.55 billion in penalties stemming from the San Bruno gas pipeline disaster and still remain financially viable, according to a confidential report commissioned by state regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas & Electric is facing state fines for the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, a deserved hit that may rise past $200 million. The sum is due to go into the state's general revenue kitty, but is that the best way to protect consumers and get repair work done? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two Bay Area lawmakers want to use revenue raised from fines leveled against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. - in connection with 2010's San Bruno gas line explosion - to pay for upgrades to the utility's transmission system, saying the move will save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a pair of fines Thursday totaling nearly $20 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for failing to check for gas-line leaks in seven East Bay communities and for missing a deadline to turn over pipeline safety records. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas & Electric has an astonishing proposal. It wants to deduct likely state fines of $200 million for the deadly San Bruno blast from the costs it ran up safety testing other buried gas pipelines after the explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A state Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge has rejected Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s appeal of a $16.8 million fine for failing to check gas pipes for leaks in seven Contra Costa County communities, saying the danger the company created justified the penalty. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]