U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna Calls for Public Ownership of PG&E

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, on Tuesday called for "bold action," urging California to seize public ownership of PG&E amidst widespread wildfires throughout the state.

"This situation has been devastating for many people across California. Many are without power and homes have been destroyed by these fires," Khanna said in a statement from his office in Washington, D.C.

"PG&E has been a disaster. When you have a state that has Apple, Google, and Tesla in it, there's no excuse for not getting power to our people," he said. "I'm calling on Gov. Newsom to support turning PG&E into a customer owned utility. We need to have more municipal public utilities providing energy."

He called for state and federal investment into "smart micro grids with distributed power generation" and more federal resources to deal with the state's ongoing wildfires in Northern and Southern California.

"California needs to be bold and take over PG&E," Khanna said.

As of Wednesday morning, the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County had burned 76,825 acres and was 30 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.