Pacific Gas and Electric : Dozens of Elected Officials and Community Leaders Voice Support for PG&E’s Undergrounding Plan

Elected officials, environmental advocacy groups and community leaders from throughout Northern and Central California have voiced support for Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) plans to move 2,000 miles of power lines underground by 2026. PG&E's proposal would nearly eliminate wildfire ignition risk from electric equipment in its highest fire-risk areas.

Supervisors from El Dorado, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Shasta, Solano and Tuolumnecounties, as well as mayors, councilmembers, chambers of commerce and community leaders have all submitted letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) stating they want permanent wildfire risk reduction and increased electric service reliability - both of which undergrounding delivers.

PG&E's plan to put 2,000 miles of power lines underground is part of the utility's 2023-2026 General Rate Case (GRC) which would fund safe and reliable gas and electric operations on behalf of PG&E's customers.

However, the CPUC is poised to reject PG&E's plan, instead issuing two proposals that call for placing as few as 200 miles of powerlines underground and using overhead covered conductor for the remaining miles. Undergrounding powerlines reduces nearly 98% of the risk of wildfire from utility equipment, whereas covered conductor insulation reduces less than 65% of the risk by itself.

In addition to reducing wildfire ignition risk and improving service reliability, PG&E calculates that moving power lines underground will save customers $5.7 billion in avoided vegetation management, and operations and maintenance costs over the long run.

PG&E CEO Patti Poppe provided her perspective on the CPUC's proposals in a recentOpinion Editorial published by the Mercury News.

In this video, community members including safety and healthcare leaders, share their perspectives on why undergrounding should be a priority:

https://players.brightcove.net/1143621169001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6339281107112

Here are the perspectives of state lawmakers, local leaders and customers in their own words:

"While there is no single solution to California's ongoing wildfire crisis, undergrounding electric lines in high-risk areas is the best long-term solution to keep customers and communities safe. Underground lines are not vulnerable to tree strikes caused by high winds and are better protected from wildlife, objects, and environmental conditions that cause degradation and failure."

Dianna Dal Poggetto, Executive Director - American River Parkway Foundation

" I was pleased to find that PG&E planned to place a significant number of miles of electrical lines underground in high-fire threat areas as part of its 2023 General Rate Case proposal. PG&E has worked closely with county leadership to ensure that our community is kept in the loop as the company begins this critical safety work.

In September, our local leaders were blindsided by the news that the CPUC was effectively scuttling that work, calling for a significant reduction in the number of line miles to be undergrounded. Those miles that were set to be undergrounded are now at risk. The CPUC's decision to dramatically scale back the number of line miles to be undergrounded only extends this timeline, or perhaps eliminates the possibility entirely that high risk lines in our county will be placed underground. This is simply unacceptable, particularly given the rapidly Intensifying risk of climate driven wildfire."

Wendy Thomas, District 3Supervisor - County of El Dorado Board of Supervisors

"Earlier this year, Northern and Central California were hit with a series of historic winter storms that resulted in more than 7 million PG&E customers experiencing an outage. For a large majority of these customers, the outage was caused by trees or other vegetation falling into electric lines after months of soil saturation and high winds. The Commission's Proposed and Alternate Proposed Decisions direct PG&E to install covered conductor in lieu of undergrounding to save money, but this solution would still leave PG&E's grid vulnerable to the very same hazards that played out only a few short months ago.

With instances of extreme weather expected to increase in the years ahead, undergrounding at scale is the only solution that would eliminate the possibility of such outages occurring."

Doug Verboon, District 3 Supervisor - County of Kings Board of Supervisors

"Now, the CPUC, through the misguided Proposed Decision, is proposing that PG&E should underground as few as 50 miles of lines per year (over the GRC four-year period), when there are hundreds of miles of high-risk powerlines across our county, alone. While the Alternate Proposed Decision includes more miles for undergrounding, it still falls well shorted of what is needed to handle the well documented risk posed by our changing climate.

Instead, the CPUC has asked that our residents continue to endure outages caused by the Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) and Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) programs for years to come, leaving our community less safe as a result."

Jordan Wamhoff, District 1 Supervisor - Madera County Board of Supervisors

"The 73 miles that were set to be undergrounded [in Mariposa] are now at risk. Mariposa County will need to wait its turn, presumably until the next General Rate Case cycle. The CPUC's decision to dramatically scale back the number of line miles to be undergrounded only extends this timeline or perhaps eliminates the possibility entirely that high-risk lines in our county will be placed underground. This is simply unacceptable, particularly given the rapidly intensifying risk of climate-driven wildfire."

Miles Menetrey, Chair - Mariposa County Board of Supervisors

"The Commission's Proposed and Alternate Proposed Decisions direct PG&E to install covered

conductor in lieu of undergrounding to save money, but this solution would still leave PG&E's grid vulnerable to the very same hazards that played out only a few short months ago."

Scott Silveira, District 5 Supervisor - Merced County Board of Supervisors

"In reviewing the two proposals, it is apparent that undergrounding fewer miles does not achieve the level of mitigating fire risk demanded by the increasing impacts of climate change. The two proposals also fall short of elevating the safety and reliability of PG&E's system, thereby putting the energy supply at greater risk."

Cynthia Murray, President & CEO - North Bay Leadership Council

"While no part of California has been truly spared from the devastating impact of wildfire, our Camp Fire communities in Butte County have experienced some of the most significant impacts. PG&E's efforts to underground electrical equipment are critical to the ongoing safety of our community."

Monica Nolan, Executive Director - Paradise Ridge Chamber of Commerce

"Humboldt County has experienced dozens of EPSS outages this year alone, and the notion that our community must continue to endure such outages in perpetuity is simply unacceptable. This is especially true given that PG&E is proposing a permanent solution to such concerns through its undergrounding program and has spent more than two years building up a program to put electrical equipment underground.

Undergrounding the more than 2,000 high fire threat line miles, as was proposed in PG&E's General Rate Case filing, would reduce the need for the EPSS and PSPS programs, leading to greater electric reliability in the region while also keeping our community safe."

Val Martinez, Executive Director - Redwood Community Action Agency

"Rural California has acutely felt the dangers of unsafe electrical infrastructure-and the resulting devastation it can cause-as well as the inconsistent delivery of power. To significantly reduce wildfire risk and increase energy reliability, we believe that utilities must use all the tools in their toolboxes: vegetation management, reconfiguring infrastructure, installation of covered conductors, and undergrounding of powerlines.

Undergrounding has the potential to do more than just reduce wildfire risk, as it will help increase overall reliability by reducing the risk of storm and snow related outages, which have been major problems over the last several years."

John Kennedy, Senior Policy Advisor - Rural County Representatives of California

"Last year was the second driest year in the last 128 years in our state. Wildland fires this year are also already trending above what was observed in 2022 (5,500 total fires in 2022, 5,200 already in

2023). Investing in undergrounding now is the most important step PG&E and the CPUC can take to make our state safer."

Tim Garman, District 2 Supervisor - County of Shasta Board of Supervisors

"I ask the Commission to revisit its Proposed and Alternate Proposed Decisions, and instead authorize PG&E to move forward with the more than 2,000 miles of undergrounding it has planned for California's most at-risk communities."

Monica Brown, District 2 Supervisor - Solano County

"Please note that I am in support of all undergrounding efforts, and am also in support of a General Rate Case decision that includes continued funding for the sustainability of current and future undergrounding programs that we know will create safer communities today, tomorrow, and in the future."

Amit Pal, Councilmember - City of Suisun City

"Simply put, our community will be significantly less safe because of the Commission's Proposed and Alternate Proposed Decisions, while still having to endure the frequent and long-duration EPSS outages that were intended to be a short-term mitigation. We ask the Commission to revisit its Proposed and Alternate Proposed Decisions, and instead authorize PG&E to move forward with the more than 2,000 miles of undergrounding it has planned for California's most at-risk communities."

Princess Washington, Mayor Pro Tem - City of Suisun City

"Reducing the miles of electrical lines that will be permanently undergrounded will have negative impacts on electric vehicle adoption, the resilience of the local energy grid, and will not reduce the amount of wildfire smoke that is making our neighbors sick.

Café Coop wants to help our members switch to electric vehicles, but this is made a lot more difficult by power outages caused by the EPSS and PSPS programs. Without a reliable electric grid, consumers will be unlikely to make the transition to electric vehicles and will instead continue to drive high-polluting internal combustion vehicles."

Todos Unidos - Antioch, Calif.

"Within the supply chain, a notable reduction in underground miles poses substantial challenges. It's essential to acknowledge that utilities across the nation are expanding their underground programs, resulting in competition for skilled labor and essential materials. A decrease in miles compared to the 2023 plan and a lack of scaling in subsequent years present formidable issues. These encompass hindering our capacity to invest in vital recruitment and training of resources, securing crucial production slots for essential materials (such as efficient construction equipment, transformers, switchgear, and junction boxes), and negotiating competitive pricing. Consequently, project timelines lengthen, costs escalate, and these inefficiencies negatively impact customers."

Keith Thorndyke, President - Trayer Engineering Corporation

"While no part of California has been truly spared from the devastating impact of wildfire, communities throughout Tuolumne County have experienced some of the most significant impacts - through constant outages, exponentially increasing costs from fire insurance that's gone up in some cases over 300%, through the stress and anxiety it places on our residents living with this risk. PG&E's efforts to underground electrical equipment is critical to the ongoing safety and economic equity of our community, which ranks among the highest (Tier-3) projected areas of wildfire risk according to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.

PG&E is our utility provider. They are best situated to analyze their system and the attention of the CPUC would be better directed not in prescribing technical solutions but ensuring a faithful accounting of dollars and that they live up to these promises."

Jaron E. Brandon, Fifth District Supervisor - Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors

"Yolo and Solano County, especially the greater Winters area, has experienced dozens of EPSS outages this year alone, and the notion that our community must continue to endure such outages in perpetuity is simply unacceptable. This is especially true given that PG&E is proposing a permanent solution to such concerns through its undergrounding program and has spent more than two years building up a program to put electrical equipment underground.

Undergrounding the more than 2,000 high fire threat line miles, as was proposed in PG&E's General Rate Case filing, would reduce the need for the EPSS and PSPS programs, leading to greater electric reliability in the region while also keeping our community safe."

Jesse Loren, Council Member - City of Winters

"We appreciate PG&E's proposal to underground 150 miles of electrical lines in our high-fire threat areas. However, the CPUC's recent proposal to drastically reduce the number of miles to be undergrounded is concerning, especially given the increasing threat of climate-driven wildfires.

The CPUC's Proposed Decision falls short, allowing for as few as 50 miles of undergrounding annually, despite the extensive high-risk powerlines in our county. The Alternate Proposed Decision is still inadequate."

Whitney Diver McEvoy,President & CEO - Yountville Chamber of Commerce