Head Of PG&E’s Wildfire Trust Fund Resigns
Sacramento, CA — The leader of a trust that was set up to pay billions of dollars to victims of PG&E equipment-caused fires is stepping down.
The Fire Victim Trust was set up in 2020 to provide a combined $13.8 billion in compensation to victims of select wildfires in 2015, 2017 and 2018. It includes the Butte Fire that ignited in Calaveras County in 2015, incidents around Napa’s wine country in 2017 and the devastating Camp Fire that destroyed much of the down of Paradise in 2018.
In total, 70,000 victims are eligible for compensation.
The trust is run independently and is funded by money and stock received from PG&E. John Trotter, a retired California appellate judge, has overseen the trust over the past two years and he is stepping down at the end of this month. He will be replaced by Cathy Yanni, who is currently the fund’s claims administrator.
In his resignation letter, Trotter says, “Progress has been made, but there is still more to be done.”
$4.5 billion has been distributed to this pioint and the trust is about $2-billion below its required funding, citing sagging PG&E stock prices. Some victims have also been voicing displeasure with the pace of payments.
The trust also requested a $1.5 billion loan from the state last year, but it has not been approved.
