Pacific Gas & Electric could be facing new penalties of more than $1 billion when it appears in a U.S. federal court in San Francisco on Aug. 18 to address charges under a July 29 indictment that more than doubles the number of its alleged violations of the federal Pipeline Safety Act linked to a fatal 2010 gas pipeline blast in San Bruno, Calif.
The new 27-count indictment also charges the utility with obstructing the National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the accident, in which eight people died.