美国国家公共电台 NPR California Wildfires Set Off Political Fight Over Who Should Pay For Damage

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The wildfires have set off a political debate in California's state capitol. It centers on who should pay when power lines cause fires. Marisa Lagos from member station KQED reports.

MARISA LAGOS, BYLINE¹: A special joint² legislative³ committee on wildfires has been meeting for two weeks now.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BILL DODD: Good afternoon. I want to welcome everybody here to the Conference Committee on S.B. 901.

LAGOS: State Senator Bill Dodd is leading the group.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DODD: These goals are very straightforward⁴ - first and foremost, to fight for those devastated⁵ in 2017 fires and to prevent future wildfires from claiming new victims.

LAGOS: Today, Dodd and other lawmakers are debating perhaps the most controversial question. Should electric companies have to pay for damage when their equipment starts a fire, even if they weren't negligent⁶? It's a very real scenario⁷. State fire investigators⁸ blame PG&E, the state's largest utility, for 16 of last year's devastating⁹ Northern California wildfires. Those killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes, and individual residents and local governments are suing Southern California Edison for the gigantic Thomas Fire, which devastated the central coast and, until this week, was the biggest fire in state history.

RICHARD ATMORE: Our utility companies could have done a much better job.

LAGOS: Ventura cattle rancher Richard Atmore is one of those suing Edison. He says utilities should have done more.

ATMORE: They never wanted to participate in the vegetation management practices. They did 40, 50 years ago, but all of a sudden, they got more interested in profits than they were in prevention work.

LAGOS: The utilities, however, say that as climate change makes wildfires more frequent and severe, they won't be able to survive financially if they're on the hook. And they warn that the state's ambitious climate change goals will be at risk. Steve Malnight is a senior vice¹⁰ president at PG&E.

STEVE MALNIGHT: California's existing liabilities laws weren't made for the new normal that we face going forward of these climate-driven wildfires. It's creating really significant financial risk to the utilities, which will limit our ability to continue making the investments we need going forward.

LAGOS: PG&E is taking this political fight seriously. It spent the same amount on lobbying between April and June this year as it spent in all of 2017. That's on top of nearly $1 million in political donations to key players this year. Governor Jerry Brown isn't proposing a complete repeal¹¹ of the liability laws, but he wants to let courts weigh the public benefit of the electrical equipment with the harm caused to property when deciding who should pay.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JERRY BROWN: My goal was to try to find a reasonable balance that would reward players, including utilities, for doing the right thing but make them liable when they didn't take the steps that common sense and prudence¹² would warrant.

LAGOS: PG&E thinks Brown's legislation doesn't go far enough. But for ranchers like Richard Atmore...

ATMORE: I think the governor's proposal is too far slanted¹³ towards protecting this huge corporation of the utility companies. They give a tremendous amount of money, but just because they give a lot of money lobbying does not mean that you look the other way when they cause a big mistake.

LAGOS: It's now up to lawmakers to decide how to strike a balance, and they only have three more weeks until the end of the legislative session to do it. For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

5 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

6 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

12 prudence   

n.谨慎，精明，节俭

参考例句：

• A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
• The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

13 slanted   

有偏见的； 倾斜的

参考例句：

• The sun slanted through the window. 太阳斜照进窗户。
• She had slanted brown eyes. 她有一双棕色的丹凤眼。