By SDCN Staff
PacifiCorp has agreed to pay $575 million to settle federal claims that its electrical lines caused six wildfires in California and Oregon, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves allegations that the utility’s equipment negligently ignited two California fires and four Oregon fires that together burned roughly 290,000 acres of public land.
In California, the fires included the Slater Fire, which began Sept. 8, 2020, on Slater Butte National Forest lands within the Klamath National Forest and ultimately burned 157,229 acres of federal land across the Klamath, Six Rivers and Rogue River-Siskiyou national forests. The McKinney Fire began July 29, 2022, on land adjacent to the Klamath National Forest and burned about 39,000 acres of federal land.
In Oregon, the fires included the 242 Fire, which began Sept. 7, 2020, near Chiloquin and burned 8,916 acres of federal land; the Archie Creek Fire, which started Sept. 8, 2020, near French Creek in the Umpqua National Forest and burned 67,000 acres of federal land; the Echo Mountain Complex Fire, which began Sept. 7, 2020, near Otis and burned about 2,500 acres, including federal land; and the South Obenchain Fire, which started Sept. 8, 2020, east of Eagle Point and burned 14,780 acres of federal land.
Federal officials said the settlement will reimburse the United States for significant wildfire suppression costs. The U.S. Forest Service now spends more than half of its annual budget on wildfire suppression. Settlement funds will be distributed to the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to support restoration efforts on burned public lands.
“The United States and PacifiCorp have reached a settlement that ensures fair compensation to the American taxpayer for fire-related damages,” said Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. He said the agreement addresses the government’s fire-suppression costs and natural resource losses while allowing PacifiCorp to continue providing electricity at fair prices.
“This settlement served the Department’s longstanding policy of holding individuals and corporations responsible for damages caused by wildfires,” said Eric Grant, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California. “Every fire impacting federal lands, no matter the size, is a priority.”
Scott E. Bradford, U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon, said recovering costs tied to wildfire response and land damage remains a priority for his office, citing the ongoing threat wildfires pose to natural resources and communities.
The settlement resulted from a joint effort by the U.S. attorneys’ offices in Oregon and the Eastern District of California, along with the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior. Assistant U.S. attorneys Tara Amin and Kelli Taylor in California and Alexis Lien in Oregon handled the cases.
The government emphasized that the claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability, and PacifiCorp continues to deny responsibility for the fires.
