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PG&E Heads Up


Subdeacon Joe

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If power is shut off, it would affect about 103,000 customers in 17 counties in the Sierra Foothills, North Bay and East Bay areas, PG&E said. The outages would last from Monday evening through mid-day Wednesday.

Strong and dry offshore winds are expected to cause risks of wildfires from energized power lines, PG&E said. The company said it already began its 48-hour-advance notification system to customers.

"The potential PSPS event is still two days away. PG&E in-house meteorologists as well as its Wildfire Safety Operation Center and Emergency Operation Center will continue to monitor conditions closely, and additional customer notifications will be shared over the next few days," PG&E said in a release.

The counties that would be affected by the power shutoffs would be:

  • Amador
  • Butte
  • Calaveras
  • El Dorado
  • Humboldt
  • Kern
  • Lake
  • Napa
  • Nevada
  • Placer
  • Plumas
  • Shasta
  • Sierra
  • Sonoma
  • Tehama
  • Tuolumne
  • Yuba
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PGE has the problem of moron state voters 

they get sued for cutting trees that are too close to power lines 

they are forced to make power from " green sources "

we banning logging  long ago

Yes the fires are still burning .. ranchers used to plow firebreaks in their fields  but that is banned since it may kill field mice 

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1 hour ago, Trigger Mike said:

Holy cow that is horrible.   I never understood why this happens so often there.  I'll pray for rain .

 

Thanks, we can use some rain.
 

That gets complicated, as they say.  A complex mix of politics, big business keeping profits high and shareholders happy, NIMBYism, geography, weather, and "green" environmentalism (which is a subset of politics).  

Let's start with geography.  Here is a portion of a topographic map and a photo, all roughly the same area.  In the photo the area between the lines is where the Tubbs Fire came through. In the photo there are two teardrop shaped bubbles, one blue and one green.  There is a football field between them that you can use for scale.

81-9FYAd2DL._AC_SL1500_.jpgVECTOR_Santa_Rosa_CA_7_5_Min_GDB.jpg

 

So a lot of rough territory with heavy brush. Hard to get to some places to clear the brush and trees from around the lines.  And LOTS of square miles to cover. All which costs a lot of money.  Which means either rates go up or shareholders lose their shirts.  Which brings us to the environmentalism and politics.


I've seen photos of some of the TVA lines.  Big, wide clearings under and long the power lines.  Looked like at least 30 yards on each side cleared.  Here?  Maybe 10 yards, if that.  And trees growing under the lines, lines passing through tree tops as the trees grew.  Why? "Oh!  You can't cut THAT much!  Think of all the wildlife that lives there!  You can only cut ten feet on each side of the base of the tower." (number pulled out of the air, but I think it's close) Or, "No, you can't come onto my property and clear the brush and trees along your power transmission lines."  Plus PG&E having to file endless Environmental Statements of some sort for almost ever twig they cut. And facing lawsuits for almost every tree they cut.

Obviously all that is part of the politics of "Going Green."  Throw up roadblocks to the very things that the State demands they do, then blame them when it doesn't get done.   Along with that, the insistence that we start eliminating proven generating capacity in favor of wind and solar.  Neither of which are truly ready to carry the load that the green capons in Sacramento demand.  Also part of the politics of green is the lack of forest and wildland management.  Little or no clearing of deadwood and brush.  Few controlled burns.  Effectively zero logging for three decades or more.  Logging did a lot of the work of clearing the deadwood and underbrush, as well as providing access roads that fire crews could use.

Which brings us to the NIMBYs.  People are all for "renewable energy" but they don't want wind farms or solar farms where they can see them. And GAWD forbid! that any nuclear facilities be updated or built.

Which leaves weather.  As you said, pray for rain.  Much of the area served by PG&E averages less than 40" of rain per year, most of which comes in about 3 or 4 months.  So we have very long stretches of no rainfall.  A few weeks ago we got a couple of hundredths of an inch, that after 2 or 3 months of no rain at all. I sometimes chuckle when I hear on the news someone from the eastern seaboard saying that they are in a bad way because it has been almost a month without rain.

OH!  One other thing - urban and suburban encroachment on wildlands with little or no buffer.  Housing tracts hard against chaparral, tough, dense brush that has a very high oil content.  

A fairly complex mix.

!A Calistoga Road.png

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34 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

People here in Missouri are taking spectacular pictures of red skys at sunset.  I figure it's smoke from the western fires.  I smelt smoke yesterday but I could have been more local.

 

Yep.  I saw on the news last week, or maybe the week before, that smoke from our fires had reached your favorite neighbor, Kansas.  Your red sunsets are parts of California in particle form.  Not sure if you could get the smoke smell, but it isn't impossible, I guess.

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This map is hard to interpret but it shows smoke coverage all across the high plains of the eastern Rockies to the Appalachian range and on out to the Atlantic by Main.    You need to go to the layers menu and turn off a bunch of stuff to clearly see the smoke drift. 

 

https://fire.airnow.gov/#

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5 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

This map is hard to interpret but it shows smoke coverage all across the high plains of the eastern Rockies to the Appalachian range and on out to the Atlantic by Main.    You need to go to the layers menu and turn off a bunch of stuff to clearly see the smoke drift. 

 

https://fire.airnow.gov/#

 

 

Thanks! It's interesting that the smoke plume doesn't seem to originate in California.  

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I might find it interesting and amusing if some state or states downwind of California should decide to sue the Golden Peeling, Tarnished Brass-Plated State for intentional forest and wild-land management malpractice, leading to dumping countless tons of pollutants across her border....    whistling.gif

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10 feet is too close for power lines.  The power line that runs through my property is about 75 feet across for 2 sets of poles going through.  The power company comes through about every 8 years with large brush cutting tractors and i have even seen them trim the trees along the power line with a helicopter from the air.  Then come back with a tractor and mulch the debri.  They will pay me $5 per acre if I cut it 

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I think cutting the power off to California during this heat wave is a great way to get their attention.  You can either have power or save every tree.  You can't have both.  Let me know when you decide.  Until then, the power is off.  If it gets too hot, feel free to go sit under a tree.

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25 minutes ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

I think cutting the power off to California during this heat wave is a great way to get their attention.  You can either have power or save every tree.  You can't have both.  Let me know when you decide.  Until then, the power is off.  If it gets too hot, feel free to go sit under a tree.

 

Hate to burst your little bubble,  but there are a whole raft of us in N. California who aren't overemotional tree huggers.

Also, l have a couple of neighbors who have medical equipment that needs power, "go sit under a tree" isn't an option for them. 

 

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3 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

Remind me again why you live there?:wacko:

Because I was born there.  However I moved 230 miles north east when I retired.  The only thing to burn here is rabbit brush & sheet grass.  Our problem is escapees from SoCal that brought their politics with them to Clark County.  The state government is BLUE; so, they have been following CA when it comes to energy.  Retiring base load coal and replacing with intermittent PV sources.  In northern NV wing is not a factor because the only places that have reliable wings it is too gusty and those conventional prop blade turbines can't take the gusts.  PV is pretty reliable in a state with very few cloudy days; however, because, it is sooo dry particulate quickly coats the PV panels limiting their output.  To maintain their efficiency they have to be washed frequently.  Not good in a state that is one of the driest places on earth.

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I live in Kern County and don't get electricity from PG&E, but from SCE.  SCE has warned that there may be rolling blackouts that last an hour.  If they turned off the power for two days where I live, the dead bodies would pile up pretty high.

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13 hours ago, Dirty Dog Doug said:

but that is banned since it may kill field mice 

So, leaving your cat outside to hunt mice is banned also and you could be fined? :wacko:

I have not seen any mice since my brother brought me a cat and it took up residence in the barn.:D

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6 minutes ago, Maddog McCoy SASS #5672 said:

So, leaving your cat outside to hunt mice is banned also and you could be fined? :wacko:

I have not seen any mice since my brother brought me a cat and it took up residence in the barn.:D

Only California cats.  They have a special proposition warning tag attached to their tail.

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