VALLEY WOMEN’S CLUB of San Lorenzo Valley
PO Box 574, Ben Lomond, CA 95005
831/338-6578
September 21, 2021
Dear Editor,
At the upcoming Board of Supervisors’ Meeting (September 28), the Board will again address untenable actions by PG&E that threaten the health and safety of residents. Supervisors McPherson and Friend’s clearly written Guest Commentary enunciated the severe impacts of the dozens of recent power outages, and PG&E’s reluctance to hold local public forums. Their statement that “Residents and elected officials in our county have been calling on PG&E for years to harden their system,” reflects the frustration we all feel. Their straightforward plan is to confront the CPUC with these issues and “ask them to investigate the outages and the fast trip sensor approach.”
We would add that the CPUC itself is negligent by also allowing PG&E to continue focusing primarily on its ever-failing Enhanced Vegetation Management program — its proven futility, billions of dollars wasted, and environmental destruction. While PG&E’s other major focus on Public Safety Power Shut-Offs may potentially prevent wildfires, it can still fail in spite of millions of dollars spent on improving it.
PG&E’s new effort is impacting thousands, after installing what appears to be untested, uncalibrated “fast trip” devices, shutting off power so damaged bare lines won’t cause fire, but taking far too long to restore power. Ironically, if PG&E had instead dedicated its massive capacity to replacing that very same antiquated, dangerous bare distribution conductor (the wires that are the true cause of utility-associated wildfires), the safety and reliability problems would be well on the way to being resolved. Southern California Edison is doing just that, with CPUC approval, successfully proving both its efficacy and lower cost. However, the CPUC has not required PG&E to do so.
We encourage your readers to attend the meeting to speak, or to write or call, in support of McPherson and Friend’s proposal to help compel improvements to our power lines for safety and reliability.
Respectfully yours,
Nancy Macy, Chair
Valley Women’s Club Environmental Committee
831/345-1555