PG&E’s plan to bury power lines is expensive. There is another way to cut fire risk

Source: Fresno Bee  |  By McClatchy California Opinion Editors

Putting high-voltage electrical lines underground, rather than running them overhead atop power poles, is one way to prevent devastating wildfires. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. would know. The utility’s equipment sparked a series of deadly wildfires in Northern California that scorched hundreds of thousands of acres, cost hundreds of millions in firefighting expenses and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director, told McClatchy California opinion editors that Edison has been able to harden power lines for about $800,000 a mile. PG&E’s undergrounding plan would cost $3 million to $4 million per mile, he said. Similar estimates are included in the PUC’s proposed decision. There are other significant advantages with line hardening: 

▪ PG&E would be able to conduct the work without having to secure rights-of-way and other approvals.

▪ Since PG&E would follow existing power-line routes, it would not need environmental reviews. With burying, should PG&E encounter an unexpected obstacle and need to burrow around it, added environmental review would be needed, and that would cause delays.