"PG&E’s ‘Shady’ Conduct Hindered Probe, Investigators Say"

"Federal investigators complained that secret meddling, arrogance and 'shady' conduct on the part of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. hindered their probe into the deadly San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, according to new court filings that shed light on prosecutors’ decision to seek a criminal obstruction-of-justice case against the company.

'PG&E really stood out as a company that was not forthcoming and lacked cooperation,' Ravi Chhatre, lead investigator in the San Bruno case for the National Transportation Safety Board, told a team of federal investigators and prosecutors last year, the documents show.

Federal prosecutors interviewed Chhatre in July 2014 as part of their investigation after the company had already been indicted on pipeline-safety charges in connection with the blast, which killed eight people and leveled 38 homes."

Jaxon Van Derbeken reports for the San Francisco Chronicle September 14, 2015.