New power lines should be underground
“Why the hell do we still have overhead wires in fire-prone areas?” - Gov. Gavin Newsom
Here is an easy quiz about starting fires from power lines strung up on towers, in comparison with undergrounding those lines.
Which is more likely to break in the wind? In an ice-storm?
Which is more likely to be severed by a falling or flying tree limb?
Which is more likely to be struck and damaged by lightning?
Which is more likely to present a target for deliberate sabotage?
If you answered all questions with “Obviously, power lines strung up on towers,” most all reasonable people would certainly agree with you. But not the most important people. An official of the California Public Utilities Commission wrote, in reference to undergrounding power lines for a local project here in Mount Shasta, ”... there is no evidence to support that doing so would result in a safer system.”
The official, Robert Haga, was responding to many dozens of local residents who specifically asked at a public hearing in 2018 (and in follow-up letters) that a replacement power line (from the Lassen Substation on South Old Stage Road to the yet-to-open Crystal Geyser Plant on Ski Village Drive) be undergrounded rather than strung up on new tall towers.
This CPUC opinion gives the green light to the tower project, and rejects undergrounding. But it is surprising, even by the CPUC’s generally pro-utility company standards. According to CPUC’s own website map, the proposed power line runs right through the middle of a “Tier-3” fire threat area. According to the CPUC: “Tier 3 fire-threat areas depict areas where there is an extreme risk (including likelihood and potential impacts on people and property) from utility associated wildfires.”
Read W.A.T.E.R.’s opinion letter on pwerlines to the Mt Shasta Herald HERE