Judge Cites Bare Wire Power Lines – Possible Malibu Impact
Written by 991KBU on January 18, 2019
A federal judge in Northern California has made a court ruling that will echo in Malibu.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup has ruled that the giant power company … Pacific Gas And Electric … has been negligent in failing to replace its uninsulated …. bare-wire power lines on poles with much-safer … insulated wiring.
The judge blamed bare-wire power lines for causing the wildfire crisis that has killed at least 126 people in Northern California … and plunged PG&E into bankruptcy.
Bare wire power lines have been used for 140 years … but they cause fires when trees or other debris blows against them … or when they snap and fall.
Says the judge … and we quote … “The single most recurring cause of the large 2017 and 2018 wildfires attributable to PG&E’s equipment has been the susceptibility of PG&E’s distribution lines to trees or limbs falling onto them during high-wind events,”.
Evidence presented by lawyers suing Edison over the Woolsey Fire indicate a bare wire short circuited up near Simi Valley … sparking the Woolsey fire that incinerated western Malibu and killed four people.
In Malibu … Southern California Edison has begun switching over to insulated plastic coated power lines … as it replaces several dozen miles of power lines that burned up in the Woolsey Fire.
Earlier … the company had announced plans to replace 2 thousand miles of lines in its highest fire danger areas with the plastic-coated lines … which are much more fire resistant.
But millions of miles … quite literally … millions of line miles of uninsulated …. bare-wire power lines stretch across Edison service territory.
The federal judge will hold a hearing on January 30th … and he may force PG&E to make dramatic upgrades in its fire safety program.
Because P G and E is oin financial disaster status … the state legislature and CPUC are considering some sort of state bailout for the huge utility.
But the second biggest utility in California is Southern California Edison .. And it also faces a massive fire danger and poor track record.
The Thomas fire last year is responsible for 44 deaths … and Southern California Edison acknowledges its equipment may have sparked that fire.
The cost of replacing millions of line miles of dangerous bare wire power lines in Southern California would be enormous.
So is the cost of bailing out PGand E …. and so is the cost of repeated diastrous and deadly fires.
PG&E faces lawsuits and damage claims topping 30 billion dolalrs from the November Camp Fire and the 2017 wine country fires.
Edison … which has more insurance and money in the bank … faces about 10 billion in claims from the Thomas … Woolsey and other fires.
