PacifiCorp has agreed to pay $125 million to dozens of Oregon wineries and vineyards that sued the electric utility over the 2020 Labor Day wildfires.
The 93 winery and vineyard owners accused PacifiCorp — which owns Oregon’s second-largest electricity provider, Pacific Power — of negligence over the 2020 Labor Day weekend.
The company failed to cut power to customers during a windstorm, despite warnings from Oregon fire officials, leaving its equipment prone to sparking a wildfire.
In 2023, a jury in a separate case concluded PacifiCorp caused substantial damage related to wildfires in the Santiam Canyon, as well as fires in Southern Oregon and the Oregon Coast.
Those fires blanketed Oregon in smoke for days. Wine grapes exposed to wildfire smoke can make for ashy tasting wine. Smoke compounds bind with the sugars in grape skin, which then release smoky flavored yeasts during fermentation, making it unsellable.
Red wine grapes are fermented with their skins, so they are more likely to produce undesirable wine after prolonged smoke exposure. That’s especially troublesome for the Willamette Valley winery scene, famous for its pinot noir.
In statements released Tuesday, attorneys representing the wineries and grape growers lauded PacifiCorp executives for the settlement.
“PacifiCorp has once again done the right thing, and stepped up to pay for the damage caused by its equipment more than five years ago,” attorney Mikal Watts said. “This is what good companies do.”
The attorneys also used their public statements, emailed to multiple media outlets, to criticize unnamed “targeted, punitive legislation aimed at ongoing private litigation.”
“Rather, permitting the parties and the tort system to resolve wildfire cases has a proven track record of success,” attorney Robert Julian said. “Moreover, legislation creating a well-funded risk pool providing monies to pay for wildfire damages has been proven to be effective in California and other states.”
Earlier this year, Oregon lawmakers considered multiple bills related to wildfires and utility costs, but that legislation ultimately died. Senate Bill 926 would have imposed penalties on private utilities for delaying wildfire lawsuits.
PacifiCorp has been tied up in ongoing litigation over the Labor Day wildfires for years. It has so far settled about 2,700 claims, but thousands more victims are still awaiting their days in court. Multiple people died before their cases were heard.
Other state legislation would have protected utilities like PacifiCorp from future lawsuits, including House Bill 3917, which would have created a fund to help people who lose homes or businesses to utility-caused wildfires — but only if they agreed not to sue the utilities for that damage.
PacifiCorp staff also celebrated the wineries settlement in a statement on Tuesday.
“PacifiCorp is glad to have this matter resolved,” spokesperson Simon Gutierrez said. “PacifiCorp remains willing to settle all outstanding reasonable claims related to the Echo Mountain, 242 and South Obenchain fires.”
Gutierrez added that PacifiCorp will “continue to actively defend against those claims.” Gutierrez cited a state report from earlier this year that concluded PacifiCorp equipment didn’t spark the Santiam Fire, despite federal fire responders reporting early on that the fires were sparked by electrical equipment.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
