power to the internet

Fri Dec 27 22:56:17 UTC 2019

On 12/26/19 6:38 PM, Fred Baker wrote:
>> This time it’s PG&E all alone, but still fallout from back then. Too 
>> much liability and they’ve not maintained the infrastructure and so 
>> they decided that to reduce the liability costs it’s cheaper to 
>> blackout. Same story again different colors. PG&E making a mint while 
>> people get screwed (PG&E was mostly at the getting screwed end in 
>> 2000-2001)
>
> PG&E has been the one in the news, but SCE appears to have been making 
> the same choices with about the same effects. The Thomas Fire was 
> briefly the largest wildfire in state history, and the source (well, 
> with the rain) of the Montecito mud flow a few weeks later. We're told 
> that SCE seems to figure in that one and several others before and since.
>
> I go back and forth on who might be responsible. The electric 
> utilities bear blame for their infrastructure; it should be 
> underground, not strung from poles. I would put some to the state and 
> the management of the various national forests and national parks in 
> the area - one of the outcomes from a fire in 2007 or thereabouts was 
> that the ecology folks had been protecting foliage, and that foliage 
> burned and clogged streams, with all sorts of results. Surprise! If 
> you're worried about ecology, you should support management of it. In 
> California, there are also laws holding home-owners responsible for 
> "defensible space" around their homes.
>

When I lived in Socal, we certainly had hellacious brush fires when the 
Santa Ana winds blew. I don't remember any/many of them being attributed 
SCE though? Maybe I just wasn't paying attention? Do remember anything 
about that, Fred? We've forever had an urban-wildland interface problem 
-- I mean, how many times has Malibu burned down, it seemed like every 
other year.

Apparently San Diego Gas and Electric has been something of a pioneer 
after the horrible Cedar fire, and apparently it's made a difference.

Mike