December 26, 2024 3:00 a.m.
The U.S. government has filed a lawsuit against PacifiCorp, accusing the utility company of negligence related to the 2020 Archie Creek wildfire in Douglas County.
According to the lawsuit, the company had a history of safety violations, including more than 250 vegetation clearance violations. The lawsuit claims the company had “knowingly and intentionally operated insufficiently maintained power lines”.
A release from State Representative Virgle Osborne of Roseburg, and state representatives Jami Cate of Lebanon and Ed Diehl of Stayton, said PacificCorp’s failure to maintain its equipment, including power lines, is believed to have contributed to the Labor Day fires across the state. That included the Archie Creek Fire which burned more than 130,000 acres – approximately half of which was federal land. There are still countless outstanding liability lawsuits from the victims of those fires around the state, including in the Santiam Canyon.
The release said the federal government had asked PacifiCorp to pay for the costs associated with the Archie Creek Wildfire on March 15th, 2023. However, as of last week, the company had not made any payments toward those costs. This inaction has prompted the federal lawsuit, as the government seeks full accountability for the damages caused by PacifiCorp’s alleged negligence.
This lawsuit comes just days after the Oregon Public Utilities Commission approved a 9.8 percent rate increase for residential customers of Pacific Power. When this goes into effect on January 1st, the utility will have raised rates nearly 50 percent since 2021. Osborn, Cate and Diehl say this is further exasperating the financial burden on wildfire victims and passing the buck to Oregonians – all while Pacific Power has yet to pay anything toward its wildfire liabilities.
The three representatives are bringing a bill forward in January and asking the legislature to ban a public utility from raising rates if they have unresolved wildfire lawsuits for three or more years. This concept will be introduced by Representative Jami Cate and co-chief sponsored by representatives Virgle Osborne and Ed Diehl.
Osborne said, “PacifiCorp has had more than enough time to pay the costs they owe from the Archie Creek Fire, yet they’ve refused to do so. This is a slap in the face to the families who lost everything”. Osborn said, “The federal government is doing the right thing by filing this lawsuit, and we stand firmly behind it. PacifiCorp needs to pay up and take responsibility for the destruction they have caused, and putting a stop to rate hikes is the best way to achieve it”.