Is there no technical solution here? They were fined 30 billion, surely that could pay for some sort of fancy lower-risk transmission mechanism?
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/pge-underground-power...
Long story short, PG&E would rather spend the money on executive compensation.
https://sites.utexas.edu/energyinstitute/files/2016/11/UTAus...
PG&E has 106,000 miles of total distribution:
https://www.pge.com/en_US/about-pge/company-information/prof...
Which works out to less than $2 billion, so the $30 billion would account for at least an alternate (if not necessarily safer) system.
(My initial thought on posting was that $30 billion would not be enough, though the first read of actual per-mile costs, neglecting per MW-mile, seemed to suggest otherwise.)
https://psc.wi.gov/Documents/Brochures/Under%20Ground%20Tran...