LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Tuesday, nine counties and cities – among them, the county of Lake and the city of Clearlake – confirmed that they have accepted a mediator’s proposal of $415 million to resolve their collective North Bay fires claims against Pacific Gas and Electric.
“Clearlake was significantly negatively impacted by the Sulphur fire of October 2017, and this settlement will help rebuild the infrastructure which was damaged by the fire.” said Clearlake Mayor Russ Cremer. “One of the city’s main goals is to repair the roads that were impacted by the fire and its subsequent cleanup efforts.”
In addition to Lake County and the city of Clearlake, the other governments included in the North Bay fires settlement include Mendocino County, the city of Napa, Napa County, Nevada County, the city of Santa Rosa, Sonoma County and Yuba County.
"Our primary concern in this legal matter has been to recover local public losses as a result of the 2017 wildfires,” said Ryan Gregory, chair of the Napa County Board of Supervisors. “This agreement, if approved, will allow Napa County to make necessary repairs to damaged county infrastructure and recover the county’s financial losses as a result of the fires.”
“The city is pleased that PG&E has agreed to this settlement, and that taxpayers will not bear the burden of the city’s fire-related expenses and losses,” said Napa City Manager Steve Potter. “The city will continue to serve, and support recovery for, the individuals, families and businesses devastated by the North Bay fires.”
Officials said the mediator’s proposal is exclusive of – and does not affect – the claims of any residents, individuals or businesses filed against PG&E due to wildland fires.
“We remain focused on supporting our customers and communities impacted by wildfires and helping them recover and rebuild,” PG&E spokesperson Ari Vanrenen told Lake County News. “This is an important first step toward an orderly, fair and expeditious resolution of wildfire claims and a demonstration of our willingness to work collaboratively with stakeholders to achieve mutually acceptable resolutions. We hope to continue making progress with other stakeholders.”
So far, there have been no details about how much each of the governments will receive from the $415 million, which officials said will be allocated among the nine public entities in a specific process.
The payment to those regional governments is to be incorporated into a plan of reorganization to be filed by PG&E in its pending Chapter 11 case, subject to confirmation by the bankruptcy court.
JAMS mediator Jay Gandhi, a retired judge, presided over several days of in-person mediation sessions held in San Francisco, local county and city officials reported.
Participants in the mediation included 14 public entities with various claims from the 2015 Butte fire, the 2017 North Bay fires and the 2018 Camp fire.
Judge Gandhi’s global proposals included a total payment of $1 billion to 14 public entities to be made pursuant to PG&E’s confirmed plan of reorganization. PG&E and all of the public entities accepted the proposals.
“Our goal throughout the Chapter 11 process is to work collaboratively to fairly balance the interests of our many stakeholders, as well as the customers and communities we serve, as we work towards a timely resolution of our case, while continuing to provide the safe and reliable natural gas and electric service that our customers expect and deserve,” PG&E’s Vanrenen said.
As part of that larger settlement, PG&E will pay Butte County, the town of Paradise and Yuba County for damages from the November Camp fire.
Local suits filed after Cal Fire issues findings on Sulphur fire cause
In June 2018, Cal Fire released its findings in the cause of the Sulphur fire – Lake County’s portion of the North Bay fires – and 11 other fires around Northern California, ruling that all of them were caused by power equipment.
The agency’s investigators determined that the 2,207-acre Sulphur fire – which destroyed 162 structures and burned for three weeks in October 2017 – was caused by the failure of a PG&E owned power pole near Clearlake Oaks, resulting in the power lines and equipment coming in contact with the ground.
The fire began late on the night of Oct. 8, 2017, in the area of Pomo and Sulphur Bank roads in Clearlake Oaks, quickly burning into the city of Clearlake, where thousands were evacuated from the fire’s path. Most of the fire’s damage was done in Clearlake.
On June 12, 2018, four days after Cal Fire released its determination, the county of Lake voted to initiate litigation against PG&E, hiring the law firm Baron & Budd, which also represented the counties of Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma, and the city of Santa Rosa in suits against PG&E.
In October, weeks after the one-year anniversary of the Sulphur fire, the Clearlake City Council also voted to sue PG&E.
The city of Clearlake reported that it was represented by City Attorney Ryan Jones, along with outside counsel John Fiske, Scott Summy and Britt Strottman of Baron & Budd.
When Lake County and Clearlake joined the other regional governments in the legal action, they joined what Fiske told Lake County News was a kind of “consolidated working group,” with locally filed cases transferred into a judicial council coordinated proceeding handled in the San Francisco County Superior Court.
In recent months, both the Clearlake City Council and the Board of Supervisors had held numerous closed sessions at their regular meetings to discuss the PG&E litigation, with no action reported after those discussions.
The council also called special closed session meetings on May 20 and June 11 just to discuss the lawsuit, and the Board of Supervisors was set to discuss its suit against PG&E in closed session on Tuesday, hours ahead of the announcement of the mediated settlement.
On Tuesday, the announcement about the settlement said that Clearlake’s and Lake County’s damages claim resulting from the Sulphur fire represent “only a small part of this collective amount.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
County of Lake, city of Clearlake among governments that reach fire settlement with PG&E
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On