PG&E says that its first priority is safety.  PG&E says its next priority is compensating the victims of the San Bruno fire. 

But are those really PG&E’s priorities?

PG&E has just launched a multimedia advertising campaign designed to make itself look good.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the campaign will cost $10 million.

It might appear that, with the trial approaching, PG&E’s first priority is repairing its public image.  Otherwise, why wouldn’t PG&E spend the $10 million on badly needed safety upgrades instead?  Or on compensating those victims who, to this day, have received nothing from PG&E for the explosion PG&E admits it caused?

PG&E told the Chronicle that it is running the PR campaign because customers want it.

[Customers] want to hear what we are doing, about the work we are doing every day about safety and reliability . . .[they want to know about] what we are doing to make our pipelines safe and reliable."

Maybe PG&E could have just tucked a flyer in with next month’s utility bill.  That might have cost a little less than $10 million.