• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

PG&E: A Casualty of Global Warming?

November 4, 2019 By Bruce Frohman 6 Comments

Bruce Frohman
Bruce Frohman

Amid the power outages and horrific fires caused by downed transmission lines, a growing chorus of politicians is suggesting restructuring Pacific Gas and Electric Company.  Although the company operates efficiently with a large economy of scale, San Francisco and other urban areas are looking into breaking off pieces of territory to establish locally owned power companies. Is this a good idea?

Climate Change

Before 2000, California had longer and wetter winters than now. Rains arrived in storms with high winds beginning each October. The storms would blow down transmission lines, causing power outages. The downed lines would start small fires that were put out by the rain or by minimal effort of firefighters.

After 2000, as California’s climate became drier and vegetation became more flammable, October’s windy rain storms were gradually replaced by dry wind storms. Each October, the storms continued to blow down transmission lines, starting fires that seemed to become larger and more difficult to put out.

Each year, the management of PG&E did risk assessments of system infrastructure. The annual determination was that the cost of fire-related claims for damage caused by downed power lines would be less than the cost of upgrading equipment to protect it from wind or the expense of improving tree trimming along its right-of-ways. So, safety and prevention expenditures were minimized so that shareholder returns could be maximized.

The utility failed to adequately upgrade tree trimming work to keep power lines clear of branches despite a court order that told the company to do so to prevent fires. Now, after a number of major fires, including ones in Lake, Sonoma, Napa, and Solano Counties two years ago, the town of Paradise last year, and Sonoma County this year, the property damage claims against PG&E are so great that the utility is in bankruptcy.

The damage and bankruptcy are the consequence of the utility’s failure to recognize climate change and to take appropriate preventive action to safeguard equipment from high wind events. The failings of management can’t be overstated.

A key question now is whether current management is capable of recognizing infrastructure weaknesses and addressing them in a timely manner. After Bill Johnson, the new CEO of PG&E, predicted that the utility would need ten years to do sufficient upgrades to end blackouts needed for fire prevention, public outrage escalated exponentially.

Dismantle PG&E?

Criticism by Governor Gavin Newsome and others affected by the fires and power outages indicates that the idea of breaking the utility into smaller parts more responsive to public need is gaining in popularity. Unfortunately, implementation of the idea will have negative consequences, especially for some rural areas of the Valley, foothills and mountains.

PG&E Customer Service Office

Under California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) rules, a utility is required to provide service to all customers within its territory upon demand at rates established by the CPUC. If cities like San Francisco kick out PG&E, rural Central Valley areas within current PG&E territory would suddenly become economically unviable. The long distances between rural properties makes providing service too expensive due to maintenance costs; urban ratepayers have subsidized rural service for many years.

Solar Energy to the Rescue?

If PG&E lost its urban customer base, the utility would lose the ability to serve customers in rural areas under the current rate structure. Rates would be increased greatly to cover the actual cost to provide service to rural customers. Service would become unaffordable for many.

A solution might be to create self-sustaining solar energy systems off of the grid, eliminating many smaller rural transmission lines in the process. This would lower the probability of fires caused by electrical equipment and make farms self-sustaining.

The main barrier to the solar solution would be the cost to set up the individual solar systems. Many rural inhabitants do not have the financial means to build and pay for a private solar system, so a new program of state or local loans would be needed.

What about Natural Gas?

If the electric service were dismantled, would PG&E keep its gas business? On September 9, 2010, a gas line explosion in San Bruno California killed eight people. The utility was blamed for failing to properly maintain its gas pipeline system. Breaking up the gas business into territories would have similar consequences to dismantling the electric portion of the business.

Too Big To Fail

The disadvantage of a monopoly is that it is automatically too big to fail. The service provided by PG&E is critical to the California economy. The company either has to be resuscitated or replaced.  If it is to be replaced, the effort would be long and economically hard on Californians. No guarantee exists that the smaller replacement utility companies would operate any more efficiently or responsibly.

Perhaps the best solution is in holding the management of the utility criminally negligent, including jail time and personal fines. Perhaps greater accountability would cause the utility to improve its business model.

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: PG&E rural, PG&E San Joaquin Valley

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Don Barton says

    November 5, 2019 at 8:40 am

    It’s not often that I agree with Misters Frohman and Caine, but I do agree in part with Frohman’s conclusion that PG&E’s management bears a great deal of the blame for the disaster that is PG&E. Yes–the decision was made a couple of decades ago to forego tree and vegetation maintenance in order to maximize shareholder returns, and now the chickens are coming home to roost in a terrible way for Northern Californians. Yes, management should be held accountable (though they likely won’t be)–not just the present management, but those who were running the company over the past twenty years or so. The shareholders also bear responsibility, but they have already paid a heavy price, as their shares are worth about 10% of where they were valued just two years ago.

    But there is plenty of additional obloquy to be dispensed–and the environmentalists, embodied in organizations like The Sierra Club who have a stranglehold on policy-making in California, also bear a great deal of blame for what is happening. Their forest management policies have led to forests that are far too dense, with far too much fuel, and without sufficient resources or leadership to properly maintain them.

    A study at Oregon State University shows that forest thinning over the past twenty years–particularly on south-facing mountain slopes–would have greatly reduced the fuel present in the Sierras now. In addition, a much greater use of controlled burns in high risk areas would have been of great value, especially if it had been coordinated with PG&E for scheduled shutoffs whenever the burns occurred near PG&E infrastructure. Finally, it would have been beneficial if–even in the aftermath of fires–we could have deployed salvage operations to remove dead trees and transport them to sawmills as expeditiously as possible, Unfortunately, the enviros prevent even that from occurring.

    Now the state is earmarking huge budgets for firefighting, when we could have mitigated much of this had the forests been properly managed in the first place.

    The PG&E story is a cautionary tale, not just of corporate greed but also of gross environmentalist overreach–and the latter cannot be conveniently shoved under the rug.

    Reply
    • Thom Torvend says

      November 5, 2019 at 9:57 am

      A great response Mr. Barton. It is much too easy to blame everything on climate change, be it man made or nature’s cycles. Mismanagement not just by PG & E , but also by well intentioned groups and negligent government agencies all share a part of the blame.

      Reply
    • Richard McCann says

      November 5, 2019 at 11:31 am

      Forest thinning would be a beneficial policy. Unfortunately, that’s not what the timber companies have advocated. They have said that thinning isn’t economic and only either clear cutting,or taking the largest trees, which have worse environmental consequences, are viable choices to them.

      Reply
  2. Marty Carlson says

    November 5, 2019 at 8:44 am

    Your article had a subheading of climate change, (the liberal default these days), Then just went into mismanagement by PG&E, Where the blame lies. They were concerned about their savage investors not doing due diligence of their safety precautions plain and simple.

    Put the old tired narrative of global warming to rest and lets talk reality.

    Also no prevention in the forests that used to occur is happening anymore either, like with the logging industry.

    Reply
  3. Bruce Frohman says

    November 7, 2019 at 4:58 pm

    Wow! Environmentalists are to blame for everything and no climate change has taken place in the past 40 years?
    Obviously, you don’t remember the winters when we used to have fog. You also don’t remember when we could never see the mountains because of smog.
    We have clean water because of environmental activism. I have never heard of environmentalists opposing wise management of our forests.
    Some make history while others try to revise it.

    Reply
  4. Babette Nunes Wagner says

    November 9, 2019 at 10:14 am

    Excellent article and food for thought, Bruce. What isn’t mentioned in many of the above replies, however, is the fact that many of the areas where these lines are run by PG&E is forest land controlled by the Federal Government, so climate change or not, neither the “liberal” organizations nor the State of California appear to have the jurisdiction to manage, much less suggest, the “thinning” of the Federal forest lands, and as has been duly noted, the lumber companies, those that would be tasked with the thinning, don’t find it cost effective..

    All of this in tandem with PG&E’s wanting to shove profit the way of its shareholders to the degree that doesn’t allow them to safely provide service to its customers poses the sticky wicket of the mess we’re presently in…. and, frankly, as a dedicated steward of this planet we’re on (remember: there is NO PLANET B) it boggles my mind that the knee jerk reaction of people unaware of the complete facts turn to that tired old trope of: “It’s the liberals’ fault.” I think it’s time for folks in general to wake up and smell the coffee…. the times, the climate and the planet is a-changing and we either must change with it, or soon disappear as a species in this latest “Great Extinction.”

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Liam Dillon and Ben Oreskes of the L.A. Times interview Mayor Karen Bass about homelessness and housing problems in California.
calmatters.org
Judge Luttig Has a Warning for America
Judge Luttig Has a Warning for America
Our democracy is “under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack” from within…
morningshots.thebulwark.com
Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says
Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says
Former US president tells Sydney audience that media coverage has helped exacerbate divisions and that we no longer have a “shared story”
www.theguardian.com
California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design