Faced with billions of dollars in potential liabilities from two years of devastating Northern California wildfires as well as the specter of future catastrophic blazes, California's Pacific Gas and Electric, one of the nation's largest utilities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday.
The state is investigating PG&E's culpability in November's Butte County fire that killed at least 86 people and incinerated some 14,000 homes and buildings in and around the town of Paradise, Calif.
The utility says it has no choice but to file for Chapter 11 given the flood of lawsuits and wildfire liabilities it estimates could be up to $30 billion. Ratings agencies have reduced its stock to "junk" status.
Read more detail of the case at NPR
