U.S. judge asks California AG to advise whether any PG&E recklessness in wildfires would be a state crime

A federal judge in San Francisco asked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to advise him on whether possible reckless operation of PG&E power lines in connection with recent wildfires would amount to a state crime.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup is overseeing the utility’s probation in a federal criminal case in which PG&E was convicted of five violations of a pipeline safety law and one count of obstructing an investigation into a fatal pipeline explosion in San Bruno in 2010.