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CEO Of Company Responsible For Porter Ranch Gas Leak To Get $3 Million Bonus
Did you wake up this morning without your needed dose of daily outrage at corporate welfare? If so, please, keep reading. If you're already angry and spiteful at the world, it's probably best you stop now.
Despite being in charge of the company responsible for thelargest environmental disaster in California's recent history—the infamous Porter Ranch Gas Leak—the CEO of Sempra Energy, the parent company of SoCalGas, will receive a $3.17 million bonus this year. Added to her usual salary, Debra L. Reed will net a total of $16.1 million in pay for the 2015 year, according to the company's proxy statement (search "bonuses paid").
Don't worry, though—California is making sure Ms. Reed will pay for the disaster. A penalty levied by the State will set her back a whopping $130,000, according to the Los Angeles Times. But as the Times so succinctly points out, this penalty amounts to just eight tenths of 1 percent of her total pay.
Along with Reed, Sempra Energy's president, executive vice president, chief financial officer, and general counsel are all also getting bonuses, amounting to about $3.9 million combined. Their combined penalty is just $157,000.
As Paula Cracium, president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council said to the Times, "This sends out a signal that as long as the dollars are there, the impact on people, homes and the environment doesn't matter. That's not the signal we need to send to executives who have so much power."
Aside from doubling the amount of methane emitted from California into the Earth's atmosphere, the Porter Ranch Gas Leak displaced more than 3,000 households, two schools, and may have even killed pets.
Bear in mind that the gas leak could have also easily been prevented had the responsible well had an in stalled safety shut-off valve. reporting from LA Weekly revealed the well at one point had a safety valve, it was removed in 1979.
The leak was plugged at the end of February. Watch below:
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