Placer County Water agency blames PG&E for Mosquito Fire, sues for damages
The Placer County Water Agency filed a lawsuit against PG&E over damages caused by the Mosquito Fire, which started Sept. 6 and burned 77,000 acres in the Sierra foothills before it was contained Oct. 27.
In the complaint, filed Tuesday in Placer County Superior Court, the water agency blamed PG&E for the wildfire and said the blaze caused numerous problems for its operations.
In September, PCWA had to evacuate its workers from the wildfire zone; additionally, the fire damaged PCWA electricity transmission infrastructure and stopped energy production at the Middle Fork American River Project, costing tens of millions of dollars in power production sales. The Middle Fork Project supplies water in western Placer County and sends hydroelectric power to the state grid.
In a news release, the chair of PCWA’s board, Robert Dugan, said, “In addition to the financial burden of mitigating Mosquito Fire impacts, ultimately, the people of Placer County are suffering financial losses with the Middle Fork Project still disconnected. And as a result, California is missing a critical source of clean energy.”
In September, an ongoing criminal investigation was launched into the role PG&E may have played in starting the fire; the private utility company has said “an electrical fault” occurred in its equipment near the time and place that the fire started.
James Noonan, a spokesperson for PG&E, said in a statement, “We recognize the impact that Mosquito Fire has had on this community. … There has been no official determination of cause of the Mosquito Fire and the U.S. Forest Service’s investigation is ongoing. We are cooperating fully with this effort.”
PG&E has caused several serious wildfires over the years. In 1994, the Trauner Fire burned through 500 acres in Nevada County after a tree the company was supposed to trim brushed against a power line. In 1997, a jury convicted the company of criminal negligence over that fire. PG&E pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after a faulty transmission line started the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.
The Middle Fork Project includes seven dams and five powerhouses in Placer and El Dorado Counties along the American River, Rubicon River, Duncan Creek and North and South Fork Long Canyon creeks.
