PG&E Shutting off power.

[Linus]

Reading the news this morning I see PG&E is shutting off power to 500,000 people and it could be up to 800,000 by the end of the day. This is being done to mitigate risk of wild fire.

My thought is WTF do you do if there is a fire or a medical emergency and you have to get out of there and all you have is an EV not sufficiently charged? If I lived in that area, I would be going back to ICE vehicle.

[davewill]

Yeah, because there are NO other ways to get anywhere in an emergency.

Taxis, Rideshare, and ambulances are all still available... also since they warned people in advance, they could always charge up and then conserve the battery for evacuation.

[Oilpan4]

Wow, it's like they're turning California into a 3rd world country.
This is the sum result of virtue signaling obsessed politicians who don't know anything about forestry, power transmission infrastructure or the environment trying to save said environment.

[WetEV]

Maybe climate change has something to do with it.

[mwalsh]

Wow, it's like they're turning California into a 3rd world country.
This is the sum result of virtue signaling obsessed politicians who don't know anything about forestry, power transmission infrastructure or the environment trying to save said environment.

Our NorCal office in Loomis is currently off-line for Internet, even though they're getting power from a generator. The Internet provider has told us that the don't intend to even try to get services going again using power alternatives. Not the end of the world, but not ideal either, especially as our alternative connectivity is 4G and cell towers are clearly running at high-loads.

The office manager up there tells me that power distribution lines running through forest areas are simply fastened to the tree trunks!?!? I find that a bit hard to believe, but I'll take his word for it.

[Zythryn]

Wow, it's like they're turning California into a 3rd world country.
This is the sum result of virtue signaling obsessed politicians who don't know anything about forestry, power transmission infrastructure or the environment trying to save said environment.

I don’t believe the blame lands anywhere than with PG&E for the run down condition of their infrastructure.
If you want another target for blame, blame the lawsuits after the camp fire. Not saying the lawsuit was undeserved, but that PG&E may have taken the wrong lesson from it.

[GRA]

Wow, it's like they're turning California into a 3rd world country.
This is the sum result of virtue signaling obsessed politicians who don't know anything about forestry, power transmission infrastructure or the environment trying to save said environment.

I don’t believe the blame lands anywhere than with PG&E for the run down condition of their infrastructure.
If you want another target for blame, blame the lawsuits after the camp fire. Not saying the lawsuit was undeserved, but that PG&E may have taken the wrong lesson from it.

More like the only lesson they could, which is that they can't afford any more fire liability. But this is on their backs, for cutting back on routine tree-trimming and other maintenance, that combined with the effects of the drought, led to the horrific wildfires of the past few years. I suspect the state government will be likely to pay much closer attention to make sure utilities actually adhere to required trimming intervals from now on, assuming PG&E actually survives bankruptcy this time (unlike this one, the Enron one wasn't their fault), and isn't simply taken over and made a non-profit. Given that their reputation with the public, after the San Bruno gas explosion and the recent fires, was already in the crapper, and this outage while necessary will cost businesses a lot of money, I'm not at all sure that they will survive as an IOU.

[Nubo]

Wow, it's like they're turning California into a 3rd world country.
This is the sum result of virtue signaling obsessed politicians who don't know anything about forestry, power transmission infrastructure or the environment trying to save said environment.

It's not about saving the environment or even virtue-signaling. More like a "CYA" dance both on the part of the utility and the regulators, after last year's wildfires and resulting judgement.

But I agree, it is decidedly 3rd-world approach. Ludicrous that the Tech Leader of the world can't keep the bloody lights on.

[Oilpan4]

They aren't practicing responsible forestry, don't appear to be maintaining electricity infrastructure.

If responsible forestry was practiced fires wouldn't be so deviating.
If responsible home and property maintenance happened then forest and grass fires wouldn't jump to homes so easy.
If the electrical infrastructure was maintained it wouldn't start fires.

Luckily nm has a public regulatory commission so they aren't as influenced by twitchy political winds that can blow both ways.

But the fake environmentalists here are getting away with banning the practice of responsible forestry out west of here near abq because it might hurt the spotted owl.

[WetEV]

They aren't practicing responsible forestry,

BS