Stake Holder #1

Magnascan, "Flame Gas Gas Flame Blue Hot Ring Burner Danger" 12/07/2014 via pixabay.com
Public Domain Dedication

The SoCal Gas Company isn't the face of all evil. Most of the people working for this company are just trying to make a living and feed their families, and persecuting them is going after the little guy. However, like most traditional energy companies, the way SoCal gets the gas is outdated and environmentally disastrous. They seem to care mostly about profit and not necessarily the people that they have to squash to get at it. The legality of their actions is at times questionable, although their acting CEO and President Dennis Arriola has been involved with many charitable organizations as well as other environmentally friendly energy companies. The face of their organization, their website, is dedicated to showing the friendly side of the company, the side that provides natural gas energy at half the cost of their competitors. In reality, there isn't truly a line between good and evil, and no company can be on either side of it. The SoCal Gas Company happens to be both good and bad.

In a statement report published by SoCalGas on the California motion to expand the area that is considered to be affected by the gas leak. This would force the company to fund more relocations of families. To quote the company, "At SoCalGas, we understand that each family’s situation is unique and every individual reacts differently to the odorant used in our natural gas. To that end, our temporary relocation specialists take a careful case-by-case approach for each request, attempting to the best of our ability, to meet each request with sensitivity and excellent customer service." They had provided a statement in the case of a wrongful death case against them in relation to the leak. A California family has filed a lawsuit against the company for the death of their cancer-ridden grandmother. In response to the suit the company stated that they "are sorry to hear about the family's loss. We are reviewing the lawsuit and will allow the judicial process to take its course." Finally, in direct response to the worries about the perspective timeline for the fix of the leak, SoCal released the statement, “While we cannot confirm how long the process will take, we are working to do this as safely and expeditiously as possible" in attempts to calm the residents of Porter Ranch.

I think all of these statements are to present a face of sympathy for SoCalGas. Each statement is an attempt to humanize the company, to make it seem as if the company really cares for the people that are affected by their actions. I think their claims aren't necessarily genuine, I think they are being made by spokespersons who don't speak for the entire company. This is a classic case of manipulation.

SoCalGas is a large entity that is facing against several smaller entities, the residents of Portor Ranch. However, those smaller entities are being represented by large law firms, which gives them equal footing in this fight. As for equality in opinions, SoCalGas holds a higher power in getting people to believe their claims over other stakeholders. The fact is that they have a lot of money and a lot of power in the government that protects them from most claims made against them. In reality, they have nothing in common with the residents, who only want to protect themselves.