The Human Cost of Infrastructure Failure — Katherine Blunt

Real Talk: The Charles Mizrahi Show

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For 100 years, a metal hook held up wires and insulators along the Feather River Canyon, California. After a century's worth of wind, rain and snow wearing it down, it eventually broke in half.

When the live wire fell, it ignited the dry brush below, setting off a huge wildfire. The fire spread with a speed that was absolutely impossible to contain, killing more than 100 people. And the fire razed hundreds of thousands of acres of vineyards and forest.

In her latest book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America’s Power Grid, author Katherine Blunt shared with me the high human cost of our energy grid.

Topics Discussed:

• An Introduction to Katherine Blunt (00:00:00)
• A Single Fire that Destroyed a California Town. (00:02:38)
• Huge Part of the Story: Climate Change (00:10:21)
• The Most Chilling 911 Call (00:15:14)
• Was There A Smoking Gun — A Warning Sign — That the Companies Ignored? (00:19:48)
• PGE Bankruptcy Times Two! (00:30:03)

Guest Bio:

Katherine is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She has written about utilities and renewable energy for the Journal since 2018.

Her latest book is California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America’s Power Grid.

In the book, Katherine explores the decline of California’s largest utility company that led to countless wildfires — including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise — and the human cost of infrastructure failure.

Resources Mentioned:

California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America’s Power Grid

Transcript:

https://charlesmizrahi.com/podcast/

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