California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--and What It Means for America's Power Grid

NATIONAL BESTSELLER 2022 Winner of the Golden Poppy Award for Nonfiction (California Independent Booksellers Alliance) A revelatory, urgent narrative with national implications, exploring the decline of Californias largest utility company that led to countless wildfires including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise and the human cost of infrastructure failure Pacific Gas and Electric was a legacy company built by innovators and visionaries, establishing California as a desirable home and economic powerhouse. In California Burning, Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer finalist Katherine Blunt examines how that legacy fell apartunraveling a long history of deadly failures in which Pacific Gas and Electric endangered millions of Northern Californians, through criminal neglect of its infrastructure. As PG&E prioritized profits and politics, power lines went uncheckeduntil a rusted hook purchased for 56 cents in 1921 split in two, sparking the deadliest wildfire in California history. Beginning with PG&Es public reckoning after the Paradise fire, Blunt chronicles the evolution of PG&Es shareholder base, from innovators who built some of California's first long-distance power lines to aggressive investors keen on reaping dividends. Following key players through pivotal decisions and legal battles, California Burning reveals the forces that shaped the plight of PG&E: deregulation and market-gaming led by Enron Corp., an unyielding push for renewable energy, and a swift increase in wildfire risk throughout the West, while regulators and lawmakers pushed their own agendas. California Burning is a deeply reported, character-driven narrative, the story of a disaster expanding into a much bigger exploration of accountability. Its an American tragedy that serves as a cautionary tale for utilities across the nationespecially as climate change makes aging infrastructure more vulnerable, with potentially fatal consequences.