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{{Infobox Company
| company_name = PG&E Corporation
}}
The '''Pacific Gas and Electric Company''' ('''PG&E''') is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of Northern California. The southern part of the state is generally served by [[Edison International|Southern California Edison]] for power and natural gas from [[Southern California Gas]]. PG&E was founded in 1905 and is currently headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building in San Francisco.
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==Negative Tax Rate and Lobbying==
A similar report by the organization [[Public Campaign]] published in December 2011, entitled "For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%?," incorporated information on lobbying expenditures. PG&E was second on the list, with $4,855 million in profits from 2008-2010, a net ''gain'' of $1,027 million in taxes (after receiving tax rebates) and a total expenditure of $78.99 million on lobbying.<ref>Public Campaign, [http://publicampaign.org/sites/default/files/ReportTaxDodgerLobbyingDec6.pdf For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%? How Corporations Pay More for Lobbyists Than in Taxes], organizational report, December 2011</ref>
==Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)==
PG&E and its subsidiary Pacific Gas & Electric have been funders of the [[American Legislative Exchange Council]] (ALEC) in at least 2010 ($5,000)<ref>Pacific Gas & Electric Company, [https://www.pge.com/regulation/GO_77M/GO_77M-2010-Redacted.pdf Redacted Report of Pacific Gas and Electric Company Pursuant to General Order No. 77-M For the Year Ended December 31, 2010], corporate annual report, 2010, p. 116.</ref> and 2002<ref name="ALEC Watch 4">Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, "[http://www.alecwatch.org/chapterfour.html Chapter Four: The Deep Pockets]," ''Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States: The Untold Story Behind the American Legislative Exchange Council'', online report, 2003, accessed April 2012.</ref> and advertised in the program for the 1998 ALEC 25th Anniversary Annual Conference.<ref name="1998MeetingBrochure">American Legislative Exchange Council, [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xlw76d00/pdf 25th Annual Meeting], organizational brochure, August 18-22, 1998, archived in Tobacco Library, accessed April 2012.</ref> Please see [[ALEC Corporations]] for more.
'''The company confirmed to [[Greenpeace]] in May 2014 that it had cut ties to ALEC'''.<ref name="Greenpeace">Greenpeace, [http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/05/01/greenpeace-confirms-six-utilities-quietly-dumped-alec/ Greenpeace Confirms Six Utilities Quietly Dumped ALEC], organizational blog post, May 1, 2014.</ref> Please see [[Corporations that Have Cut Ties to ALEC]] for more.
{{about_ALEC}}
==Political Contributions and Lobbying==
In November, 2010, the PG&E executive in charge of the utility's SmartMeter program admitted that he used a fake name in an effort to join an Internet discussion group of SmartMeter opponents.
[[William Devereaux]], the senior director of PG&E's $2.2 billion SmartMeter program, used the name "Ralph" when he sent an e-mail to the moderator of a discussion group for people trying to block deployment of the new, wireless electricity and gas meters. His identity was given away when his real name appeared next to his e-mail address, and the list moderator recognized who he was. <ref>David R. Baker [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/09/MNG61G940B.DTL&tsp=1 PG&E SmartMeter exec tries to infiltrate activists], San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2010 </ref><ref>PRWatch.org [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/node/9594 Utility Exec Busted Trying to Spy on Consumers], November 9, 2010</ref> ==Pipeline explosion==In September 2010, a PG&E transmission pipeline failed at a poorly constructed weld and exploded in San Bruno, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes. According to an internal document obtained by The Chronicle in 2012, PG&E suggested to managers before the San Bruno pipeline explosion that downgrading more than 2,300 natural gas leaks - and potentially not fixing them - would save the company nearly $5 million.<ref>Jaxon Van Derbeken, [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/PG-E-memo-Downgrading-leaks-would-cut-costs-3709090.php "PG&E memo: Downgrading leaks would cut costs,"] SF Gate, July 17, 2012.</ref>
==Compensation==
In 2006, PG&E's 6 coal-fired power plants emitted at least 8.4 million tons of CO<sub>2</sub>.
==Resources==
===Related SourceWatch Articles===
*[[Florida and coal]]
*[[New Jersey and coal]]
*[[United States and coal]]
*[[Global warming]]
*[[Leroy T. Barnes , Jr.]] - former treasurer
===External Articles===
{{Wikipedia}}
===References===
<references/>
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Power companies and agencies in the United States]]
[[Category:ALEC Exposed]]
[[Category:ALEC Corporations]]
