PG&E touts plan to bury 6 miles of power line in Sonoma County to reduce wildfire risk

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. officials on Thursday touted a plan to place six miles of power lines underground in Sonoma County as part of the company’s ongoing bid to reduce wildfire risks tied its equipment.

The presentation came during a lightly-attended town hall meeting in Santa Rosa hosted by PG&E, which has faced criticism from residents and elected leaders over its paltry progress in burying local power lines.

Just two miles will be placed underground in Sonoma County this year and four miles next year, according to the latest plan by PG&E.

The upgrades are part of a 10-year effort across PG&E’s Northern and Central California service area, where utility officials have pledged to bury up to 10,000 miles of power line to reduce wildfire risks.

In Sonoma County, the planned projects are set to take place along Highway 12 between Santa Rosa and Kenwood, with a smaller project slated for Freestone. Work is expected to finish sometime in 2024.

Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin was among the roughly 10 people who attended Thursday’s meeting at the Rincon Valley Regional Library.

On Friday she said she is “disappointed” in PG&E’s current plan for burying power lines in Sonoma County given the persistent threat of wildfires in the region.

“We still have a lot of vegetation intersecting with power lines,” she said Friday. “I don’t see the priority system and the schedule they’re thinking about.”

PG&E officials said they use risk models — studies showing areas threatened by fire — to identify and prioritize where work is necessary. Risk models consider utility equipment condition, environmental terrain and surrounding vegetation.

The region’s most destructive and deadly fires have historically moved east to west, originating or picking up steam in the mountains dividing Sonoma from Napa and Lake counties, where more miles of power line are slated to be buried.

Napa County has no miles scheduled this year but 41 miles for next. Four miles are planned for Mendocino County in 2023, 90 miles for Lake County by the end of 2024 and one mile is slated for Marin County this year and none the next.

Sonoma County’s target of six miles could change if risk models evolve.

“We’re going to take the best information each year, update the risk model and launch undergrounding projects based on that,” Matt Pender, PG&E’s senior director of underground strategy and programs, said Thursday.

The utility claims that its utility underground projects will reduce fire risk tied to its equipment by 99% where implemented, a stance Pender reiterated Thursday.

But that work comes at a hefty price, with charges passed along to ratepayers.

On average, Pender said, underground work costs about $3.3 million per mile. Each project needs to be done efficiently to prevent customers from eating more costs and that may lead to a slower process.

“There’s no silver bullet that makes it magically cheap to do,” Pender said.

Glen Ellen resident David Gleba attended the meeting and said utility officials should consider feedback and insight from area residents knowledgeable about areas prone to fire.

He singled out Nuns Canyon Road, east of Glen Ellen. It was the origin point of the 2017 Nuns Fire, which burned 54,382 acres, destroyed 1,355 structures and killed three people.

It was among nearly a half-dozen named blazes that made up the 2017 North Bay firestorm. State investigators tied most of the infernos back to PG&E equipment, save for the Tubbs Fire, which burned 36,807 acres, destroyed 5,643 structures and killed 22 people.

Still, liabilities from that firestorm, and the 2018 Camp Fire, also tied to PG&E, spurred the utility to declare bankruptcy, and its Fire Victim Trust, set up to compensate for losses in those fires, has accepted Tubbs Fire claims.

Gleba and Gorin both questioned why more work is happening in Napa County.

“I just felt Sonoma County is not getting its realistic share of miles,” Gleba said.

PG&E launched its latest bid to bury a wider swath of its high-risk power grid after it emerged from bankruptcy and amid the historic 2021 California fire season, when its equipment was linked to the massive Dixie Fire that raged across the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Previously, the utility put an average of 22 miles underground between 2015 and 2020. That increased to 73 miles in 2021 and 180 miles in 2022.

PG&E has so far placed 250 miles of utility lines underground within its service area this year, including 5 miles east of Santa Rosa.

Officials plan to complete 800 miles of undergrounding by the end of 2024. That also includes the 90 miles in Lake County and four miles in Mendocino County.

The long-term plan is to cover 10,000 miles across PG&E’s service area over 10 years.

Last month, PG&E CEO Patti Poppe told The Press Democrat the project is on track.

Gorin said PG&E needs to be as transparent as possible, including with dates and information of construction that may impede traffic.

One of Thursday’s attendees said she was dismayed so few people were presented for the important discussion.

Organizers said the meeting was announced through offices of Gorin and fellow Supervisor James Gore, whose districts surround Rincon Valley.

Gorin said about 400 people in her district were advised of the meeting via newsletters and social media.

She surmised people can be busy and it’s hard for people to attend live meetings after they got used to attending via Zoom during the pandemic. She added people are more likely to attend meetings for current and relevant issues or when they’re angry.

“And they’re not angry yet,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi