Posted on 10/26/2019 3:16:12 PM PDT by Missouri gal
Simple reason, the Sierra Club armchair environmentalists in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo Counties kept suing PG&E due to the unsightly treeless and brushless fire break corridors that were on either side of high tension lines through the mountains and foothills. They didn’t actually go see them, but they saw photos of them and were offended by the unnaturalness of them, so they sued to put a stop to them. They won.
They also sued the state and national forest services to prevent them from clearing dead wood and underbrush that in previous centuries small naturally occurring fires would periodically clear out, fires humans artificially extinguished before they could do that natural job which would burn themselves out without harming mature trees, and in many cases were necessary for seed germination of those tree species. Native Americans often deliberately set those small fires.
When I was a boy, you could actually see across the Yosemite Valley floor through the trees. . . now, you cannot due to intervening deadwood and undergrowth which now would burn like tinder and destroy the mature trees. It’s there because more armchair "naturalists" got regulations passed prohibiting collection of firewood, cutting of brush, and, heavens forbid, controlled burns to clear it out! It’s been accumulating for the past 60 years in our forrests as we stupidly "prevent forest fires" which nature has handled on her own for millions of years, before anthropomorphic Smoky Bear ever showed up with his shovel and bucket!
The people they send to trim are cut down trees, cannot speak English hack at the trees, drive off and leave the remains there.
re: “Why wouldn’t PG&E just trim the trees from around their ...”
If anyone hasn’t told you already, it’s a LOT more complicated and involved than that ...
In areas where there are trees and high winds, PG&E would usually put their power lines underground. But to budget that, they must get permission from the state. And the state always says “you must invest in green energy instead”. So nothing ever gets done.
You better not have an Electric car
Because California state environmental laws prevent them from taking that obvious action in many cases.
Even if they cut the trees if a line goes down, ignites grass or brush under the lines they are subject to suit in California.
Sounds more and more like Venezuela.
The high voltage lines can’t be buried, generally. None of the lines can be buried in rocky and challenging terrain.
Well when you pass laws that you cannot cut trees under power lines, (to save the environment), then the trees grow up, you might have a problem. I’m done fretting over California. They are creating their own misery. This is what they are voting for, and they are reaping what they sow... this is what they believe, this is what they want. Not our problem, they own it.
Because the enviros wanted to protect the forest by preventing this method.
buying legislators, governors, and ‘regulators’ can only work for so long, as eventually your company falls apart from inside
imho, Californication has had perhaps the most corrupt ‘regulators’ and legislators and governors ....with this power company (and a couple more big utilities) pretty much owning them all for years its seemed
ps: its surprising how little $$$ some governmental regulators and officials might sell out for, too
I imagine most everybody is able to scramble around in the dark using flashlights which gathering up family photo albums, important documents, pets, and children. And to drive out of the area down unilluminated streets and through intersections where there are no traffic signals.
But only the jerkwads in California government would actually oblige their citizenry to do so.
Kind of like the Protective Hand of God has been lifted from the State of California...more and more with these disasters. More and more a place NOT to live.
———-
That was in my daily bible reading plan today.
“I have removed my protection and peace from them, I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.”
Jeremiah 16:5
Because the brush-loving LIB eco-nut lunatics haven’t allowed them to do so. Hahaha. How pathetically entertaining.
There’s only one cure for this; the people in California need to start voting for republicans. Not that they would be all that much better, but one-party rule does not work.
If they can continue on this road to being Venezuela. If they became Mexico they would try to ship all of their uneducated unskilled brown people to America.
long past time for tough love. Cut off the funding and treat the various military installations as green zones and the rest of the state as Baghdad.
We used to be a civilization
Part of the plan. people flee California, and spread the sickness. Colorado, Texas, Idaho, Montana.... all going blue. Which will lead to further breakdowns and spread the contagion.
Heck.
As a side noted; I expect that PG&E, through Utility Regulation, will be allowed to charge customers for kw hours they could have used during the blackouts.
Your question resolves to "how many PG&E employees does it take to cut a tree limb encroaching on a powerline easement on public or private land in today’s California regulatory environment?"
My answer would likely be around ~100 or so, give or take a dozen.
Start with a line walking crew doing the survey to notice the encroachment and note the work needs to be done, probably three to four workers plus a supervisor.
Their survey report for that line goes to a committee which will prioritize that line’s work against a budget and the urgency of other lines, likely about five people.
Once it is scheduled, and it reaches the top, it will be assigned to a PG&E biologist who will assemble a team of other biologists and ecologists to do a site biology and ecology impact statement for the work slated to be done. This could involve several fields of specialists depending on the biota and ecology of the area. It could involve anywhere from four to ten specialists. The prepared ecological and biological (and occasionally an economic in which case they would need to bring in PG&E’s office of Economic Development and its staff to do an impact evaluation, likely two to four people) impact statements must be filed with the State of California Environmental Protection Agency, and also with the Federal EPA. . . and perhaps with the Economic Development Department.
This now involves PG&E’s legal department which must review the various biological, environmental, ecological, and possibly economical impact statements to be certain all the regulatory requirements for such reports have their "i"s dotted and "t"s crossed and that they don’t accidentally raise a red flag making a regulatory mess of things. This likely requires several paralegals and a supervising attorney, plus the efforts of a clerk or two, and actually might involve two or three different legal departments. Likely six to nine people.
These statements must be allowed a period for public review and comment. It is possible a public hearing will be required. If so, a PG&E PR Representatives and the district manager and district engineer plus a designated flunky staff person where the line is located will have to attend to answer questions, whether they know answers or not. Likely an attorney to keep them out of trouble, too. Five people.
Once the impact statements are approved after being brought before multiple meetings of all pertinent government bodies, which ALSO require PG&E staff in attendance to answer why this work is necessary, Probably an additional ten or so people. The impact statements are approved.
These approvals are returned to PG&E legal, and distributed through the internal email (IT gets involved, two people).
A work order is finally generated. Copies are sent to a survey team to go and mark line beyond which the tree cutting team cannot cut lest they go beyond the easement. That’s likely four to five men. Human Resources is notified to set up per job Workers Comp for this specific project, as is accounting, and internal PG&E OSHA monitoring because tree trimming is one of the most hazardous jobs there is, especially using chain saws, and a crew of fire fighters is put on standby—sparks from the gasoline chain saw engines, you know. And, add security due to rabid environmentalists who are known to chain themselves to trees to prevent work. Waste must be hauled away. Add approximately twenty more people.
Oops, almost forgot the guys with the chainsaws, rope, axes, etc. who do the actual work. . . That’s about six.
And that’s how you get to about 100 people to cut a limb from a tree encroaching into a powerline easement in today’s California regulatory environment. . .
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