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Commissioners deny SDG&E
emergency shut off plan
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
SAN FRANCISCO — Last Thursday, Oct. 10,
the California Public Utilities Commission denied a plan by San
Diego Gas & Electric to turn off power to rural parts of the
county during extreme weather conditions, ending a nearly
yearlong battle about the proposal.
In a meeting in San Francisco, the CPUC voted 4-1 in
favor of a recommendation to reject the SDG&E proposal, stating
that the utility had not demonstrated that the shut-off plan
would “result in an overall reduction in the number of
wildfires, or that the public safety benefits of its plan exceed
the significant costs, burdens, and risks that are imposed on
customers and communities where the power is turned off.”
“I would need to be convinced that shutting off the
power, under the weather and moisture conditions proposed by SDG&E,
is in fact imperative to the safe operation of the system or
that such conditions constitute an actual emergency situation
that warrants a power shut off,” Commissioner Rachelle Chong
said. “Try as I might, I could not find evidence in the record
that either of these things is true.”
Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon cast the lone
dissenting vote. He supported an alternative proposal that also
rejected SDG&E’s shutoff plan, but kept the idea open in the
future.
The utility had proposed turning off electricity to
tens of thousands of residents in East County and the Back
Country, when red-flag conditions, including high winds and low
humidity, elevate the risk of wildfires. SDG&E maintains that
the plan is necessary to prevent catastrophic wildfires, like
those that tore through the region in 2007.
A handful of fire officials at the meeting spoke in
favor of the shut-off plan.
“We support this plan because it will help us prevent
another catastrophic wildfire in our region,” Augie Ghio,
president of the San Diego Fire Chiefs’ Association, told the
CPUC. “How can we not support a plan, as professional
firefighters, that has the high potential to reduce life loss
and property loss?”
Critics of the shut-off plan argue that a lack of power
would leave the most vulnerable parts of the county without
vital services during times of emergency. Water, which is
largely from wells in the Back Country, couldn’t be pumped,
medical devices would be inoperative and residents would not be
able to get critical emergency information.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors also opposed
the plan, lead by chairman Dianne Jacob, whose district covers
much of the affected area.
“I commend commissioners for truly listening to
opponents and choosing public safety over SDG&E’s profits,”
Jacob said in a statement. “The shut-off plan has always been a
diversion from the real problem: For years, SDG&E has failed to
enact known safety measures that would prevent wildfire caused
by its infrastructure.”
In a statement released shortly after the CPUC decision
Debra L. Reed, president and chief executive officer of SDG&E
said, “While we are disappointed in today's ruling on the
shut-off component of our overall community fire safety program,
it's important to point out that the CPUC reaffirmed SDG&E's
statutory authority and responsibility to operate our system
safely.”
"We remain committed to fire prevention and public
safety and continue to bolster our fire-prevention efforts,
including replacing more wood poles with steel, expanding our
tree-trimming inspections ... and bringing in a large-capacity,
firefighting helicopter and a wildfire strike team to help
respond to fires this fall,” she wrote.
The commission’s decision also orders SDG&E to engage
in a collaborative process with the other parties to develop a
fire preparedness plan following the completion of a formal
cost-benefit study.
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