SACRAMENTO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- PG&E, the company involved in a deadly explosion last year in California, agreed to pay the state $38 million for an earlier fatal blast.
The fine is the largest ever imposed by the state Public Utilities Commission, the Sacramento Bee reported. The company is expected to pay far more for the September 2010 explosion in San Bruno that left eight people dead.
Wilbert Paana, 72, was killed on Christmas Eve 2008 when a pipeline in his neighborhood in Rancho Cordova exploded. Witnesses said PG&E employees did not respond for more than two hours after a gas leak was first reported and then failed to discover that Paana and his family were still in their house or to put a warning notice on the door.
The PUC originally ordered PG&E to pay $26 million, but an administrative judge found that too low. The company agreed in 2009 to pay the Paana family an undisclosed amount in damages.
The San Bruno blast flattened dozens of houses.
Read More
- NTSB cites oversight in Calif. pipe blast
- PG&E skirted inspection requirements?
- PG&E record under scrutiny after tests
- PG&E pipeline burst triggers landslide
- Pipeline fails in California for PG&E
- PG&E agrees with San Bruno pipeline explosion probe
- California's pipeline safety scrutinized
- PG&E can't find pipeline records
- PG&E brushes off record-keeping concerns
