{"id":284200,"date":"2021-08-23T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=543774"},"modified":"2021-08-23T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:45:00","slug":"can-burying-power-lines-prevent-californias-next-big-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/08\/23\/can-burying-power-lines-prevent-californias-next-big-wildfire\/","title":{"rendered":"Can burying power lines prevent California\u2019s next big wildfire?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
On July 18, California\u2019s Pacific Gas & Electric revealed that its electrical equipment might have sparked the Dixie Fire, a blaze that has since become the second-largest in the state\u2019s history, torching 700,000 acres and destroying more than 1,200 structures. Three days later, PG&E, which emerged from bankruptcy<\/a> last year after amassing some $30 billion<\/a> worth of liabilities from wildfires, announced<\/a> something more surprising: To prevent future blazes, the state\u2019s largest utility plans to rip out 10,000 miles of overhead power lines in high fire risk areas and bury them underground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan caps a years-long push by utilities to bury more power lines in the face of worsening weather and rising risks from climate change. According to PG&E, it\u2019s the largest such effort ever announced by a U.S. utility: Pattie Poppe, the company\u2019s CEO, described as a \u201cmoonshot<\/a>\u201d on a call with reporters, But whether PG&E can turn its announcement into action is a big \u201cif,\u201d as the utility has not estimated a timeline for the project, and it\u2019s not clear that the benefits will outweigh the multi-billion dollar cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PG&E\u2019s announcement, nearly two years after its equipment sparked the deadly Camp Fire<\/a>, was \u201ca clear recognition that something has to change,\u201d said Julie McNamara<\/a>, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. \u201cBut if this is not part of a holistic plan that is clearly reckoning with all of the challenges afoot, then this is a distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n