In the short run,
the PG&E deliberately
planned blackouts
in California
may have prevented
one or more wildfires.
I gave PG&E
a grade of "B"
in my article
Then I started thinking
about preventing the
need for PG&E's
deliberate blackouts !
In the long run,
there has been
a serious problem
in the United States:
Insufficient maintenance
of infrastructure,
including California
power lines !
California adds to their
wildfire problems by
making most forest
maintenance illegal !
The more "natural"
a forest is, the more
fuel it has for
intense wildfires !
THE LONG TERM PROBLEM
GOES BEYOND CALIFORNIA
The American Society
of Civil Engineers' (ASCE)
most recent "Infrastructure
Report Card" gave the U.S.
an overall grade of D+
( "E" is a failing grade.)
Why does a wealthy nation
like the U.S. allow public
and private infrastructure
to deteriorate over time ?
To me, that's like buying
a nice house, and then
ignoring the roof
when it eventually
starts leaking !
After World War II,
when energy was cheap,
our interstate highway
system was built, suburbs
and shopping malls appeared,
and schools, universities,
hospitals, etc. expanded
rapidly.
Energy prices rose in the 1970s,
but infrastructure spending
lost momentum.
We had a big bull market
in energy in the 2000s,
through 2008, but that
did not seem to spark
much infrastructure
building and maintenance.
In California, there was
insufficient maintenance
of the existing power
line infrastructure.
PG&E had a choice
of cutting trees
near the power lines
they use, or enriching
their management
and shareholders.
Here in Michigan,
I live in a heavily
wooded village,
with above ground
power lines.
I'm miserable
when I see the
utility company
tree trimmers
( tree hackers )
( tree hackers )
come into
my one acre yard,
surrounded by trees
on two sides, and then
they "hack off" every
tree branch within
10 feet of a power line.
But that's better
than losing power
from branches falling
on nearby power lines
in a storm.