02x03 - k*lling Power

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] Even as the
pandemic drags on,

we are seeing, smelling,

and tasting the next
global catastrophe.

America already has
totally broken and

destroyed
infrastructure, right?

I mean, American water is
undrinkable in plenty of cities.

Of course, you know, it's...

this is gonna get worse.

American taxpayers believed
they'd struck a bargain with

the government and
the energy industry.

We give you our money,

you keep up the
infrastructure

required for our
very survival.

But they broke that deal.

All of this devastation really
came down to one hook that

hadn't been properly
inspected for many years.

Companies we trusted have
pocketed our money.

PG&E had ended up deferring
maintenance for years,

upon years, upon years,
while prioritizing profit.

To enrich themselves....

Lee Raymond was the CEO
of Exxon for decades.

He was like Jabba the Hutt
or something.

The energy industry has
invested heavily on

selling us a
brighter future.

We're continuously
innovating.

While leaving us to
stumble in the dark

towards the brink
of extinction.

The real crime is that,
because we weren't warned,

people were going about
their business,

not knowing that this crisis
is gonna ruin them.

[Crackling]

[Cheering]

For over 70 years, our leaders
have told us one thing

under the
bright lights...

The protection of the lives
and property of Americans

is the responsibility of
all public officials.

I care, we're trying.

We have it so well
under control.

Help is here and we will
not stop working for you.

But for decades, America's
shadow government and its

powerful friends have spent
trillions of dollars on an

agenda that serves their
interests, not ours.

You guys paid for all this.

So, when the sh*t really hits
the fan, we're on our own.

This is not science fiction.

This is reality in America
right now.

The truth is, the rich
and powerful will do

whatever it takes to
save themselves...

While The Rest of Us Die.

All of Texas is facing an
extremely dangerous

winter storm in
the coming days.

February 13th, 2021,

a winter storm
sweeping across the US

begins to bear down on
the Lone Star State.

Overnight, historic and
dangerous cold

taking aim at millions.

It will make movement
virtually impossible.


And then we stay below freezing

Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday.

We don't get back above freezing
until Friday afternoon.

In the rest of the country,
the freezing weather prompts

warnings to stay indoors
and keep warm.

But in Texas, the danger
will be inside the house.

- It's like a walk-in freezer.
- You'll see a blanket here.

It's really terrifying.

Before the storm has passed,


will be without power.

Some will freeze to death
in their homes.

Senator Ted Cruze will
escape to Cancun.

And those responsible will
reap billions in profit,

while leaving most
Texans wondering:

"How could this happen"?

The next few days are
going to be very tough.

There's a high chance
the power will be out

for a couple of days.

As the storm approaches, Texans
are warned of power outages.

But only industry insiders
would know

how bad things were
about to get.

Or how vulnerable the
state grid really is.

Bill Magnus is the
CEO of ERCOT,

the manager of the
state's power grid.

The storm and the extent of it
has been extraordinary,

so we are seeing a whole lot of
units coming off for reasons

that have to do
with the weather.

But simply blaming the weather
doesn't tell the real story.

While the winter storm sweeps
across most of North America,

only in Texas did it
precipitate a deadly crisis.

Because in Texas,

the electricity grid suffers
from a fatal flaw.

They never invested the money
needed to protect it against

even the storm's mildly
freezing temperatures.

Something industry insiders
kept secret from customers

like Alan Brockelman.

And I love snow too, but
after this I'm just kidna...

Each day,
they would predict,

temperatures would get lower
and lower and lower.

But ERCOT didn't send
anything out until the

just the day before,
not even 24 hours before.

People in Texas were just gob
smacked that, you know,

here we are,
the energy capital of the world.

We brag about the fact that we
produce more oil and gas than

any other state, and even
a lot of countries.

We are the biggest producer of
wind power in North America.

And yet, despite all of that,
we're freezing in the dark

because we can't get that
energy where it needs

to go during a crisis.

There wasn't enough
juice in the system.

And what that meant for Texans
was, the lights went out.

And, the lights didn't go
out just for a little bit.

The lights went out for
days and days.

And it went out at a really
critical moment,

when it was freezing even
inside your own house.

I know God is here,
but who else?

We're supposed to take care
of our people.

It was unbelievable.

Unbelievable -
but perhaps inevitable.

The state's faith in
rugged individualism,

coupled with a belief that
private business does

everything better than
government,

combined to make Texas the
only state in America with

an isolated, privately owned
power grid...

one outside the reach of state
and federal oversight.

Most states have
regulated electricity.

Our prices are capped.

But Texas, this state is about
deregulation and they

Unable to draw on power from
neighboring states,

Texans are now headed
into a deadly crisis,

and completely at the
mercy of ERCOT.

The grid company begins
imposing rolling blackouts,

putting much of Texas in the
dark as the storm gets worse.

It's a decision that
will ultimately

claim the lives of hundreds.

...Including an eight-year
girl and a woman.

Dying from carbon
monoxide poisoning,

after a car was left running in
a garage to help create heat.

It's only months after the
February Texas blackout that

the true picture of what
actually happened

is beginning to emerge.

Patrick Luff is a personal
injury lawyer in Dallas.

His firm is representing the
families of dozens

who died in the storm.

These companies
continue to be told:

"Here's exactly what you
need to do to prevent

these sorts of disasters
from happening again,

and it's not very
expensive."

And yet, they make the
conscious choice that

they're not going to fix
their systems because

it's cheaper and easier
for them to just continue

with business as usual.

There's a... icicle.

And it even got it literally
actually touched the rail,

her wheelchair rail.

Shortly before the rolling
blackouts plunged his

neighborhood into darkness,
Alan finally receives

a warning message from
the grid operator.

When you send me a text
message and you say:

"15 to 45-minute blackouts,
please sign this if you agree,"

and then you cut off the
power for 40 hours...

Kids, grandmas,
elderly, disabled.

Alan wasn't facing
the crisis alone.

He and his son also cared for
his mother, Kimberly,

who had been paralyzed
in an accident.

Just grandma, son, and grandson.

Growing old together,
looking after each other.

Supporting each other. That's
what it was all about.

As the storm approaches,

Alan knows that his
mother is vulnerable.

I remember taking this
picture 'cause this is

when I really started
getting worried.

Like a lot of people
who are paralyzed,

their blood circulation
isn't the same, right?

It was a big concern...

catching pneumonia.

The cold came in Saturday,

and then the blizzard
came in the 14th.

And then, 24 hours after that,
the power went out.

I stayed out for 15 hours...
straight.

This is the front yard,
no power.

On the next night,
it went out again.

And it stayed
out for 21 hours.

As the storm bears down,
all across Dallas,

neighborhood after
neighborhood watch

as ERCOT turns out
their lights.

A white desert was what it was.

You didn't see grass.
You didn't see anything.

All you saw was, was snow
and icicles everywhere.

And everybody that was out
trying to get firewood or

trying to get food or
medicine or whatever,

was just kind of like a
bunch of confused ants.

As Alan goes to sleep on the
night of February 15th,

the power has now been
out for 14 hours.

I woke up at 2:00 am.
I remember her:

"Alan, Alan! My,
my mattress is Fl*ttening.

The power's out"!
I woke up and I was like,

oh, God, here we go.

She had the electric mattress
so that she didn't get sores.

She was very fragile because
of her blood circulation.

So, I mean,
this was critical.

Alan carries his mother
into the living room,

where a fire is burning.

I will not forget this
for the life of me.

She looked at me and she
was sitting right there,

and she said:
"This feels like an attack".

I couldn't disagree with her
on it, you know,

so I just told her:
"Look, it's gonna be okay.

We're gonna get
through this".

You know, just keep staying
warm, stay by the fireplace,

and keep trying to get a hold
of the electric company.

On the morning of
February 19th,

the power finally comes back on.

She looked at me and
she said: "We made it.

We made it through this.
I'm so proud of you".

Hours later,
Alan's son discovers

his grandmother
in her bedroom.

So, I ran in there.

And, of course,
there she was.

And foam was coming
out of her mouth.

She was pale.

The last thing I want to happen
is for my son, you know,

to, to walk in your room
one day and find she

you know, not breathing.

It happened.

[Sighing]
It happened.

Alan's mother Kimberly
was just 56.

Only later did he learn that
while his mother was shivering

at home for 40 hours,
the lights in

downtown Dallas stayed on.

Dallas had all its lights on,
all those pretty lights on.

All the skyscrapers
and everything.

You know how much power
we could have had?

That made me mad.

I mean, these guys in power,

it's all about money and
greed, as far as I can see.

As people like Alan's mother
freeze to death in their homes,

a system is in place to
transform the tragedy into a

money-making opportunity
for the very people

who created the crisis.

Alright, we're moving on
from the Texas power outage

to the Texas power outrage.

In February 2021,

the energy capital of the
world runs out of electricity.

While downtown Dallas remains
lit up for Valentine's Day,

the Texas electricity company
shuts off power to millions,

leaving some to freeze to
death inside their homes.

And for an encore,

they demanded to be
paid for doing it.

The real slap in the face
after it is when this power

sort of came back,
so did these

astronomical power
bills for people.

At one point, one megawatt went
from $50 to about $9,000.

So, how can a company get away
with jacking up energy bills

more than 10,000%,
after leaving millions

of their customers shivering
in their homes?

The answer lies
back in the 1990s.

You know when you
work for Enron,

you're gonna see the
newest thinking,

you're gonna see the newest
products, the newest
services.

You're gonna see the newest
markets opening up.

The newest ways of
thinking about things.

In the 90s, the powerful energy
industry starts looking to

expand from oil and gas into
the government regulated

electricity business.

A handful of legislators
started pushing to open up

the markets and break
apart the monopolies,

so that traders could buy
and sell electricity in the

same way they sold
stocks on the market.

Leading the charge for
electricity deregulation was

a Houston-based energy
company called Enron.

A company that had done
something similar

with natural
gas in the 80's.

Jeff Skilling,
Enron's president and

chief operating officer.

Well, actually, our natural
gas business was

extremely strong in
the third quarter.

But, in addition, the power
markets all around the world

are deregulating and
Enron has a

significant position
in those markets.

And so, that helped
the quarter as well.

Enron begins lobbying states

all over the country
to deregulate.

And, the two most
prominent examples of that

would be California
and Texas.

And, in both cases, they
contributed to a disaster.

Most Americans probably
hadn't heard of Enron

until a few weeks ago.
But here in Texas,

the corporation's the
stuff of legend.

Enron shares are gaining
half a dollar on the day.

Let's take a closer
look at that.

Enron executive Ken Lay finds
Governor George W. Bush

is receptive to the idea
that private companies

can do everything better
than government

including cheaper
electricity for Texans.

And while Enron lacks details
about how deregulation will

actually lower prices, it makes
up for it with enthusiasm

about its own
corporate brilliance.

- When did the price change?
- Is that your price?

- What is the real price?
- Price!

The price was hidden,

and it took an incredible
amount of work to dig it out.

Enron Online will change
the markets for

many, many commodities.

I like to think about Enron as
sort of an investment bank in

its operations, but sort of
like a Silicon Valley startup

in its style. There is a
certain kind of swagger

that developed over the
course of the 1990s.

A great quote from some of the
company's literature was that

they were always dissatisfied
with the status quo,

and that they were always
looking to see how things

could be improved.

What that led to was this
incredible arrogance.

[Electronic voice]
"Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why?
[repeating]

They ran this crazy series
of commercials in 2000

called the Ask Why campaign.

Why?
It is a small word.

That, again,
just presented them as this

incredibly forward thinking,
slick company.

And they were getting into all
sorts of different markets.

You can't predict
the weather.

There's nothing you
can do about it.

Why?

As they got more press, and as
they became more famous,

and as people like Jeff Skilling
were hailed as geniuses...

And that's our vision.

We're trying to
change the world.

[Gavin] ...they're suddenly
unable to actually describe

what it is they do.
If you look at, like,

letters to shareholders
and stuff like that...

they'll start off with: "People
don't understand what we are.

They have a hard time
describing us,

but we know what we are".

At one point, they were
having a hard time coming up

with the company's
new vision statement.

And, Jeff Skilling said that
somebody had come up with the

idea of just sort of calling it
the world's coolest company.

Soon, the self-described
"coolest company in the world"

will be responsible for the
energy markets in the

two biggest states,
a responsibility seemingly

lost on Enron's most
senior management.

You know, the culture of
Enron was one where

guardrails just
didn't exist.

We have the people,
and the skill base,

and experience to win in a
competitive marketplace.

It was a culture where the
top executives really saw

accounting rules, and rules
for public companies,

as challenges to get around.

And they actually thought,
you know: "Hey,

if we figure out a way around
this accounting rule,

that's cause we're smart".

Reducing electricity cost is
only one benefit...

from choice and competition.

It created a culture
throughout the company

that the rules don't matter.

I'm gonna get some
pricing for ya.

I'm gonna call you back.

[Phones ringing]

You're dealing with a
trading floor environment

where a lot of money is
being passed around and,

it manifested itself in all the
ways you might imagine from,

very fancy sports cars
driving around Houston,

to a proliferation of topless
bars to, you know, all,

all kinds of things.

They ran this this
feature periodically

called Extreme Enron.
And the idea was like,

these are what Enron workers
are doing on their weekends.

And there are these completely
ridiculous stories.

People who would go
race hydroplanes.

One describes somebody who
would go Orchid hunting.

But, they would sort of
characterize it as like,

having to dodge alligators as
you're looking for like the

perfect orchid and
stuff like that.

They basically kind of
encouraged risk taking.

One thing the company didn't
seem to focus on was the

actual job of overseeing
the power grid.

While Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay
were the public faces of Enron,

behind the scenes were
executives like Lou Pai,

a notorious partier who was
handed the company's

new electricity arm.

Lou Pai has become
sort of legendary.

[Phone ringing & girl moaning]

He and others would go to
Houston strip clubs and

sometimes even bring
some of the strippers

back to the
offices and so on.

Lou Pai's fondness for one
exotic dancer eventually leads

to a costly divorce with his
wife of 20 years...

forcing him to sell $250 million
worth of Enron stock.

This is what's happening
at the offices of Enron.

And despite this, first
California and then Texas,

will go into business with
Enron after being convinced to

deregulate with a promise of
cheaper electricity.

[Dance music]

They began by attracting the
kind of people that are more

comfortable in an
environment of change.

And now Enron is in
control of the power grid.

In a preview of what will happen
two decades later in Texas,

California experiences a
record heat wave,

and power demand soars.

Almost the day this system
was put into place,

the electricity traders
began to manipulate it and

game the market.

They had these crazy
sounding strategies.

Ricochet was one,
Death Star was one,

Fatboy was another one.

And they found ways to like
route power in certain ways

that would create, like,
blockages or spikes or

like a quick need for power.

And then they would quickly
profit from these different

weird things happening in
the California market.

Consumer advocate Harvey
Rosenfield says Californians

are being held hostage by a
failed experiment in

deregulation of
electric utilities.

Our view of it is it was
blackout blackmail.

Tim Belden, who ran Enron's
west coast operation,

said that there was chaos
in California and,

chaos drove high prices and,

therefore, chaos
was good for Enron.

Chaos was profitable.

California's decision to hand
over its power grid to the

private sector proves
disastrous.

Enron is a company that
deals with everyone

with absolute integrity.

In the chaos, Gray Davis
becomes only the second

governor in US history to be
successfully recalled.

This recall has been like
a roller coaster.

Enron's ride also ends.

Enron, now the biggest
bankruptcy in US history.

No training manual...

Despite gouging Californians
by manufacturing

an electricity crisis,
the company is still

hemorrhaging
hundreds of millions.

Since scamming customers
worked so well,

it tried to do the same
with the IRS.

That ended less well.

The whole truth and
nothing but the truth...

Jeff Skilling goes to prison
for financial fraud.

Ken Lay avoids prison by
dying of a heart attack.

But Lou Pai,
the electricity executive,

slips away to Colorado,

where he's purchased


And a mountain.

But the story of Enron is
more than just a

cautionary tale about the
damage one company with

bad actors at its helm
can wreak on citizens.

I think I think we've done
an incredibly poor job

of learning the
lessons of Enron.

As Enron's stock...

We've wrapped a whole bunch of
stories around the company.

We've got a great cast of
characters to work with.

But some of the fundamental
lessons of Enron

are still out there.

And those lessons, like it's
dangerous to embrace

magical thinking around
the infallibility of

the private sector,
live on...

most of all in Texas.

In Texas, deregulation means
that Texas has given

its own jurisdiction
over its grid.

And there, the ideas of
market uber alles and,

the public sector be damned,
and regulation be damned,

are very strong.

And so, the utilities do not
invest in protecting

the power lines and
the power stations.

Because they would prefer
to hand that money

to the share
owners, right?

Well, lo and behold, then we
get this insane cold snap and

there's total chaos.

That's what happens
after 20 years of

refusing to invest
in infrastructure.

It means we're not ready
for climate chaos.

Not ready, as it turns out,
because private industry

conspired to maximize profits
and hide the truth,

leaving the rest of us to face
a climate out of control.

When the power went
out in February,

I think the country was well
aware that people didn't have

power and water, but the other
part of this crisis that

did not get a ton of attention,
is the methane disaster.

As pipelines freeze, drilling
sites in Texas oil fields

have nowhere to send the gas
that's being extracted.

They are forced to burn off
almost everything,

in a process known as flaring.

That was happening in the
most productive oil field

in the country, the Permian
Basin in west Texas,

where there are
hundreds and thousands of oil

and gas wells that are
releasing methane,

a powerful greenhouse gas,
into the atmosphere.

As people are freezing to death
inside their homes,

the Permian Basin is on fire.

In a single day, at least


natural gas is burned off.

Enough to power thousands of
homes for an entire year.

What is really striking here
is how little we know about

how much gas was released.

And this comes back to gaps in
our regulatory system,

where companies don't
necessarily have to report

when there's a disaster,
that they are releasing

vast amount of pollution
in the air.

That actually is one of the
most significant takeaways,

I think,
from February.

For decades, some of the
wealthiest industries in the

country have done everything
in their power to prevent

the rest of us from
understanding the damage

they have done in
order to profit.

As the Texas freeze gets
people asking questions,

the oil and gas industry,
and the government

work together to
obscure the truth.

I think perhaps the most
shameful aspect of this entire

crisis was that everybody rushed
to score political points,

even before they made
sure people were safe.

Our governor went on the
cozy environs of Fox News

to blame renewables.

It's just foolish to think that
we can disband the use of

fossil fuel and have a safe
and comfortable nation.

Even before he addressed the
people of Texas about,

about the degree of the crisis.

So, and this shows how the
Green New Deal would be a

deadly deal for the
United States of America.

Behind the scenes,
a sophisticated PR machine

is practicing
modern day alchemy

transforming an oil and
gas fiasco into

one made of
renewable energy.

What was remarkable about the
Texas freeze was that the

denial camp, the people who
have spent a lifetime fighting

against renewable energy and
fighting for fossil fuels

jumped in ahead of
the real crisis and

started blaming the
wind turbines. And saying:

"The whole crisis is caused
by frozen wind turbines".

And it stuck because it was
almost a man bites dog story.

Like, oh, the solution to
climate change fails in the

moment of need, in what is
sort of a climate event.

It was picked up by
mainstream media.

It was in New York Times
articles, on CNN articles.

Everybody was saying it by
Monday or Tuesday of that week.

Officials imposed
rolling blackouts,

saying the lack of energy is
due in part to frozen

wind turbines in west Texas
knocked offline.

Turned out to be
not true at all.

The power from wind turbines
makes up only about 20%

of the electricity
supply in Texas.

Almost all of the power
shortages actually came

from natural gas and coal.

In fact, later documents
recovered through public

records requests showed that
the government, itself,

was consulting with known
climate deniers.

Taking messaging advice.
Alex Epstein was one of them.

He's a guy who wears a t-shirt:
"I heart fossil fuels".

And Steve Milloy,
long time climate denier.

He's known for fighting what
he calls "junk science".

Those two ramped up very
quickly over the weekend,

and started amplifying this,
this misstatement of facts.

What would this have looked
like 20 years ago in Texas,

dealing with these kinds of
weather conditions?

Well, you know, there'd
still be difficulties.

But, you know, you wouldn't
have your grid relying on

windmills that are frozen.

The Texas Permian Basin is
ground zero in the w*r over

whether the future of
American energy lies in

oil and gas, or renewables.

Stretching for
hundreds of miles,

the Permian Basin accounts
for nearly half of

all US oil production.

If things go as planned,

only Saudi Arabia will
produce more by 2029.

No more coal!
No more oil!

Keep that garbage in the soil!

But as the world moves to
phase out fossil fuels,

that industry, with its
powerful lobby, is under siege.

And it seems willing to try
just about anything

to stay in business.

Back in the 1980s,

the natural gas industry's
enemy was electricity

and it battled for America's
hearts and minds

and kitchen appliances.

Four decades later, the natural
gas industry is still at it.

We're cooking with gas!

And one way the gas industry
has been doing this is,

by hiring social media
influencers...

My reporting found that
these influencers were all

talking about the virtues
of cooking with gas,

and it tied back to this
broader industry campaign to

try to prevent
cities from pursuing

these electrification
campaigns.

So, this was a very 21st
century kind of misinformation

campaign on how the gas
industry was using social media

in a more sophisticated way to
fight climate action.

For decades the oil and gas
industry has known that clean

energy would be essential to
preventing a global catastrophe.

But also bad for profits.

How dare you!

So, in the classic strategy, if
you can't beat em, join em',

the fossil fuel industry
began advertising that

they are part of the solution.

At Chevron, we believe
the future of energy

is lower carbon.

We see a flood of
advertising where the,

the oil industry is
showing itself as the

greenest thing that can be.

"We're paying attention
to emissions,

we know this is serious.
We're very, very smart,

by the way, and we're
figuring it out.

So, back off, everybody".

Exxon ran multimillion dollar
ads from 2016 through just

before the pandemic hit,
about their algae program.

Some farms grow food.
This one grows fuel.

Which is a side,
side project for them.

Way less funding than their
multibillion dollar exploration

for new oil for us to burn.

That could one day
power planes...

Propel ships...

And fuel trucks.

And it gave the impression that
you might be putting algae

derived biofuel in your
gas tank really soon.

When, in fact,
it's not soon at all.

Or even, at all.

Despite those biofuel ads,
a decade earlier,

the company concluded that
it would never replace oil.

We looked at everything.

I mean, we looked
from soup to nuts.

That none of these
technologies were gonna be

competitive against oil.

Lee Raymond was the CEO
of Exxon for decades.

I mean, he was like
a character

he was like
Jabba the Hutt or something.

Like a character out of
a weird sci-fi movie.

Totally stubborn on
climate change.

Unmovable.

And also, we think,
the architect of their

backlash campaign,
their denial campaign,

at least authorizing it, in the
mid 90s through when he left.

Did we aggressively
fight against...

some of the
science? Yes.

Did we join some of these
shadow groups to

work against some of
the early efforts?

Yes, that's true.
But, there's nothing,

there's nothing
ill*gal about that.

Companies like Exxon spend
hundreds of millions to delay

action on climate change to
maximize their profits,

knowing full well the deadly
consequences for the rest of us.

We lost a generation,
to be honest. I mean,

we could have taken action
on this in the 80s.

We certainly had enough
knowledge, and enough warning,

and enough certainty to take
action in the early 90s,

to start cutting emissions.

In fact, Exxon's own
documents say:

"If society's gonna
take this seriously,

they ought to start cutting
emissions in the 90s".

Through the 90s,
through the 2000s, really,

into the Obama era.
We've done nothing.

We've done very little.

And in the meantime,
emissions go up.

The concentration in the
atmosphere goes up.

The warming is going up. And
it's like a runaway train.

And when a privately run energy
utility prioritizes profits

over everything else,
doing nothing can lead to

a state burning
out of control.

As soon as I started driving
north from San Francisco,

on the horizon you could
just see this clear

black line in the sky.

And it was a color that
I've never seen before.

It was like thick oil, black,
dark, bruised purple, green.

And it was all of these
houses and lives

just being lofted
into the sky.

In 2018, California has already
been through two seasons

of record-breaking,
deadly wildfires.

In 2017, you had the Tubbs Fire
down in Ventura, California.

It burned past Christmas and
was the largest wildfire

in state history.

In 2018, you had the car
fire, which spawned a

fire tornado in the
Mendocino Complex, which...

less than a year after the
Thomas Fire,

earned the role of biggest
fire in state history.

[Sobbing]
Oh, my god!

So, by the time November
rolled around, you know,

Thanksgiving was coming.
It was still really dry.

Rain hadn't come.

But I think for a lot of
Californians,

there is this expectation of,
oh, fire season's over now so,

things will just go
back to normal.

But climate change has stripped
normal' of its meaning.

And a small town named
"Paradise" is about to

become anything but.

They've got 60 people here,
going round,

trying to subvert their own
government's willingness

to get everybody on board.

Even for the rather
pathetic proposals,

which the United States
has brought forward.

Decades ago, some of America's
largest companies joined

forces to cast doubt about
climate change.

Knowing that they would profit
more if we did nothing.

One of those companies
was the California

electricity utility PG&E.

It there anything anyone
wants to say?

No, your honour.

No,
your honour.

Very well.

PG&E is the same company
accused in the movie,

Erin Brockovich, of poisoning
a California town back in 1993

by dumping toxins into
the local water supply.

In the matter of the plaintiffs
of Hinkley, California vs.

Pacific Gas and Electric,
the causes of action against

Pacific Gas and Electric
are upheld.

In 2018, PG&E is
back in the news

this time for something
they failed to do

that resulted in more
devastating losses.

It was around 6:30
in the morning.

On the morning of November 8,
San Francisco Chronicle

reporter Lizzie Johnson wakes
up to reports of a new wildfire.

I drove up the skyway to get
there, and it was just...

Total and utter devastation.

You know, most of the
downtown was burning.

Homes were burning.

It was hard to find a place
that was untouched by it.

And scattered amidst the
scene were all of these just

burned and gutted
cars that...

people hadn't made it out or,
were forced to make a really

hard decision to run because
maybe they had run out of gas,

or their tires had deflated.

And, you know,
just seeing that,

you realized that there were
thousands of people

whose lives have been
utterly changed...

within a few hours.

It was the worst thing
I've ever seen.

The, the smoke was so thick
that satellites up in

outer space could see it.

And the closer you got,
the smoke just

took over everything,
to the point where all you

could see was black
and orange smoke.

By the time Johnson
arrives in Paradise,

the wildfire has already
traveled eight miles,

consuming everything
in its path.

Yeah, just got a report
from 21-0-7 Delta.

They're trapped in a road
with multiple residences.

Taking refuge in a creek.

I've got one patient
with chest pains.

However, we can't
get in at this time.

We've got explosions,
structures on fire.

And we're taking
refuge in our vehicle.

Before the fire hit Paradise,
it steamrolled this tiny

unincorporated town
called Concow.

Which is just, you know,
clusters of people

scattered around this lake,

a few miles over the
mountains from Paradise.

And those people truly
had no warning at all.

They were the ones that
were calling 9-1-1 saying,

you know: "There are flames
outside my window".

And the 9-1-1
dispatcher was like:

"No, the fire is not here.
You're wrong.

Like, it's fine".
And it wasn't fine.

There is a woman who ran
out of her home,

and got stuck under a truck
and had to breathe air

out of the tire to survive.

And she was terribly burned,
but she lived.

Her roommate died under the
truck next to her.

But, even the fact that she
made it is incredible.

There were a couple of people
who helped an elderly man

canoe out into the middle of
this lake, to survive the fire.

And so, those are the stories
of heroism that just...

are things that you would only
expect to see in a movie.

So, you know,
it was a huge toll,

but it could have
been a lot worse,

given how many people
were trapped.

On the same morning that
Johnson is in Paradise

witnessing the devastation,
investigators from Cal Fire

are on the scene investigating
what started it.

They noticed that on a
transmission tower owned by

the Pacific Gas and Electric
Company, this hook had snapped,

and it looked like a high
voltage line had fallen and

hit the tower, and sprayed
metal into the grass.

Of course, they have to verify
all of those findings.

So, that's where the
FBI got involved.

The snapped hook was
nearly a hundred years old.

Had PG&E inspectors
looked at it,

they would have found the metal
was dangerously eroded.

And it turned out that PG&E

had ended up deferring
maintenance

for years upon years upon years
while prioritizing profit.

And so, all of this devastation
really came down to one hook

that hadn't been cataloged,
that hadn't been properly

inspected for many years.

And had they just
replaced it,

all of these lives would
have been spared.

PG&E decided it was more
profitable to let its

infrastructure rot, even if
that meant people died.

Why do we allow them
and other companies

to keep getting
away with it?

I wish there was some
way to take back...

what happened, or to
take away the impact...

the pain that these
people have suffered.

But I know that
can't be done.

Our equipment
started that fire,

destroyed the towns of
Paradise, Concow,

severely burned other
parts of Butte County.

In 2020, the utility company
PG&E pleads guilty to 84 counts

of manslaughter for its role
in causing the fire that

destroyed Paradise,
California.

So, your honour,
I make this plea

with great sadness
and regret.

And with eyes wide open
to what happened to

and to what must
never happen again.

Thank you, sir.

It was the costliest natural
disaster on the planet in 2018,

causing an estimated
$16.5 billion in losses.

The courts fine PG&E
just $3.4 million.

If it were a person,

PG&E would spend the rest
of its life in prison.

But PG&E is not a person.

So, while its executives
earn millions in salary and

performance bonuses, none of
them is charged, personally,

for what happened.

And Paradise was not
an isolated incident.

PG&E is a deadly recidivist.

In 2017, Cal Fire determined
that faulty PG&E equipment

started 17 major wildfires
that k*lled 22 people.

That same year, the company's
CEO made over $7 million.

In 2016, the company was
convicted in connection to a

pipeline expl*si*n that
k*lled 8 people.

As the CEO came home
with nearly 11 million.

In 2021, PG&E said its
equipment may have started

one of the largest fires
in state history.

It was criminally charged,
yet again,

this time for starting a
massive wildfire

north of San Francisco.

In 2020, the CEO made
over 6 million.

Alice Stebbins was the
executive director of the

Public Utilities Commission that
regulates PG&E in California.

PG&E is unique
because of its size.

But it's also, you know,
let's face it,

they're a publicly traded
company.

What's their number
one thing? Money.

The Pacific Gas and Electric
Company became the largest

power provider in California
by snapping up

a lot of smaller utilities.

So, that transmission line that
started the camp fire off of

the highway in Pulga,
was originally owned by

the Great Western
Power Company.

And PG&E bought it.

And, the way that the district
attorney in Butte County

describes it as, it's like
buying a used car,

and then not taking it in
for maintenance,

not changing the oil,
and basically

running that car
until it fails.

It's called the 'run to
failure approach'.

But as climate change makes
these fires worse and worse,

and more people are living
in the forest,

that run to failure approach
doesn't work anymore.

And so, now PG&E has a
crisis on its hands because

they have all of this
vulnerable infrastructure

that they need to harden.

And it's a massive
undertaking that is just...

trying to correct years
of negligence,

and that priority on profit
because they could.

But now that doesn't
work anymore.

When did big business
become more important...

than the ratepayers and
the taxpayers?

And why is that okay?
I mean, it makes me so sad.

Especially after all the fires.
After all the destruction.

After all the death.
And I just,

I'm tired of the
lip service.

It's like, do something.