Friday, August 27, 2021
CapitalPress.com 7
Power lines keep sparking fi res. Why don’t utility companies bury more lines?
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
Pacifi c Gas and Electric,
a utility company serving 16
million Californians, plans to
bury 10,000 miles of power
lines throughout Northern Cal-
ifornia to reduce wildfi re risk
at a cost of up to $20 billion.
The move, critics say, is
long overdue. PG&E’s equip-
ment, according to a Wall
Street Journal investigation,
has ignited more than 20
wildfi res in the past several
years, burning thousands of
homes and killing more than
100 people. Most of the fi res
started when trees touched
power lines.
Besides starting wildfi res,
overhead lines are vulnerable
to ice and wind storms. Last
winter, for example, an ice
storm knocked out power in
some parts of Oregon’s Willa-
mette Valley for days.
“We know that we have
long argued that under-
grounding was too expen-
sive,” Patti Poppe, PG&E’s
chief executive, told report-
ers. “This is where we say it’s
too expensive not to under-
ground. Lives are on the line.”
Now, rural communities
across the West are posing
the same question to their
utility companies: Since
power lines are a fi re hazard
and cause other problems,
why not bury them?
Undergrounding
has
drawbacks, utility companies
say. With power lines under-
ground, faults are diffi cult to
locate. Underground wires are
expensive to install, suscepti-
ble to fl oods, earthquakes and
accidental dig-ins, and can
prove diffi cult to repair.
But advocates of burying
power lines say the benefi ts
far outweigh costs.
Some utility companies
are aggressively burying
lines, while others are hes-
itant. The two biggest bar-
riers to change, experts say,
are environmental regulations
and insuffi cient funding.
The Capital Press con-
tacted several major utility
companies in the region about
their plans.
Oregon-based
Portland
General Electric already has
more than half of its system
underground, according to
spokeswoman Andrea Platt.
PGE doesn’t have plans
for a mass-scale underground-
ing eff ort, but Platt said the
company, which serves about
90,000 customers, is “always
evaluating where additional
undergrounding could help
mitigate risks.”
Platt said there isn’t a “sin-
gle, silver-bullet solution” to
protecting lines. PGE is clear-
ing trees and brush near lines,
installing fi re-resistant poles,
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Power lines run through farmland. More electric utili-
ties are considering burying them in the wake of cata-
strophic fi res that have been linked to overhead lines.
inspecting high-risk areas and
piloting new technologies.
The challenge, Platt said, is
balancing the cost of burying
power lines with the impact
on consumer prices.
“We try to be judicious,”
she said.
Running lines under-
ground, according to the Cali-
fornia Public Utility Commis-
sion, costs about 10 times as
much as overhead lines, trans-
lating into higher utility rates.
A price hike could hurt
consumers. Rural households
across the U.S. already pay
40% more than their metro-
politan counterparts on their
energy bills, according to a
2018 joint study from the
American Council for an
Energy-Effi cient Economy
and the Energy Effi ciency for
All Coalition.
California’s PG&E, for
example, will pass some por-
tion of its $20 billion price
tag on to customers. Paul
Doherty, a PG&E spokes-
man, said the company “will
leverage customer and public
funding.”
Pacifi c Power, a divi-
sion of Pacifi Corp, is another
major West Coast utility serv-
ing 780,000 customers across
Washington, Oregon and
California.
Victims of last Septem-
ber’s Beachie Creek fi re east
of Salem have sued the utility
seeking more than $1 billion.
They allege the utility failed
to shut down its power lines
even though a strong wind
storm had been forecast.
According to spokesman
Drew Hanson, about 30% of
Pacifi c Power’s Oregon dis-
tribution lines are already
underground, a percentage
that continues growing.
“Going underground more
is an evaluated option, but it’s
not a cure-all,” said Hanson.
Hanson said burying wires
can be challenging due to soil
conditions, limited accessibil-
ity and rugged terrain. Filing
environmental impact reports
and getting approval to cross
private land are also obstacles.
To mitigate wildfi re risk,
the company is putting syn-
thetic coating on wires,
replacing wood with steel
poles and clearing vegetation
in high-risk areas more often.
This year, Pacifi c Power also
hired three meteorologists
and two emergency staff .
PNGC Power, an umbrella
organization for 15 mem-
ber-owned cooperative util-
ities across Oregon, said its
public utility district mem-
bers, or PUDs, are all busy
creating wildfi re plans.
“Since it’s a huge topic
of conversation right now,
they’re all speaking about it,”
said Andrew Barter, a spokes-
man for PNGC Power.
James Ramseyer, mem-
ber services director for
Consumers Power Inc., a
not-for-profi t rural electric
cooperative serving Benton,
Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Mar-
ion and Polk counties in Ore-
gon’s Willamette Valley, said
about a third of his company’s
lines are underground and he
expects that number to con-
tinue climbing.
Consumers Power hopes
to underground 70% of its
wires in high-risk fi re zones
by 2022, but Ramseyer said
the company faces two main
obstacles: painstaking envi-
ronmental reviews and insuf-
fi cient funding.
Some county-level utilities
are also pushing fi re mitiga-
tion eff orts.
Lane Electric Cooperative,
serving 14 towns and cities
in Western Oregon, currently
has more than half its system
underground, higher than the
national average, and buries
more every year.
According to Debi Wilson,
general manager, Lane Elec-
tric is applying for federal
grants to build more fi re-re-
silient systems, especially in
the McKenzie River Valley,
which was ravaged by last
year’s Holiday Farm Fire.
Any solutions, under-
grounding or otherwise, will
take time, so offi cials encour-
age rural communities to have
backup generators and emer-
gency plans for summer 2021.
Drought takes toll on Idaho crop yields
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
As drought continues to grip
the West, Minnesota and the
Dakotas, the American Farm
Bureau Federation has been
checking in with its members
to see how they are faring.
Its latest report assessing
conditions focuses on Idaho,
where 88% of the state is expe-
riencing drought. Of that, 58%
is experiencing extreme or
exceptional drought.
“Record high temperatures,
rising consecutive days without
rainfall and a record number of
days with triple-digit heat have
been commonplace throughout
the 2021 growing season,” the
Idaho Farm Bureau reported.
No stranger to dry condi-
tions, the average annual pre-
cipitation for much of the
state’s most populous and pro-
ductive lands is less than 12
inches. This year has been espe-
cially dry and hot, with hydrol-
ogists recording average rain-
fall of about 4.4 inches.
Even the northern region,
which commonly receives sig-
nifi cantly more rainfall than
other regions, is experiencing
exceptionally dry conditions,
Farm Bureau stated.
Tom Mosman, a dryland
canola and wheat farmer in the
Camas Prairie region of north
central Idaho, said he typically
gets 70 to 80 bushels of wheat
per acre.
“This year if we average 40
or 50, we will be doing good,”
he said.
Northern Idaho and East-
ern Oregon farmer Travis Port,
who grows hay and winter
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
Five horses have been diagnosed with the West Nile virus in Idaho.
Equine West Nile Virus
confi rmed across Idaho
The Idaho State Department of Agri-
culture has confi rmed fi ve cases of
Equine West Nile virus.
The department’s Animal Health
Laboratory confi rmed one case each in
Lemhi, Twin Falls, Canyon, Ada and
Blaine counties. The horse in Lemhi
County was euthanized due to the sever-
ity of the disease. The others are recover-
ing under veterinarians’ supervision.
State Veterinarian Scott Leibsle on
Aug. 20 said the cases surfaced in the
last 7-10 days.
Drought kept mosquito populations
at bay this year, he said in an interview.
“Typically we would see cases of
West Nile in horses early in the summer,
if we had normal rainfall,” Leibsle said.
Some horse owners haven’t been as
vigilant about vaccinations this year, he
said.
“Ultimately, the prevention for this
is vaccination — ideally in the spring,
before mosquito hatches occur and mos-
quito populations have a chance to estab-
lish themselves,” Leibsle said.
Nearly 98% of horses that test pos-
itive are unvaccinated or under-vacci-
nated, he said. The vaccine has been
available for about 20 years.
Leibsle said more cases of Equine
West Nile are occurring around the West
recently. Unlike a respiratory virus, it
cannot be transmitted from one horse to
another.
He said veterinarians can advise
horse owners on Equine West Nile
and other annual core vaccinations and
booster schedules.
Horses that have been vaccinated
for West Nile must receive an annual
booster, he said.
ISDA said horse owners also should
take precautions such as using fans or
repellants, and removing standing water
where possible.
The virus is commonly spread to
people and horses by a mosquito bite.
Signs in horses include fever, weakness,
unusual movements or even an inability
to stand or move.
There is no vaccine for people.
In Oregon, the West Nile virus has
been found in mosquitos in Baker and
Jackson counties.
In Washington, it has been found in
mosquitos in Walla Walla County.
Reporter Mia Ryder-Marks
contributed to this story.
peas, said he’s expecting about
200 pounds of peas per acre —
compared to average yields of
nearly 2,000 pounds. He esti-
mates his hay production at half
of normal.
“Certainly, farmers and
ranchers without access to
developed water reserves who
are dependent on precipitation
and snowpack have really been
devastated,” Farm Bureau said.
Agricultural lands with
access to water reserves such
as reservoirs, lakes and aquifers
have a better chance of getting
though this growing season.
But signifi cant conservation
and curtailment have already
begun. Some reservoirs, such
as those in the Wood and Lost
River basins, are below 7% of
total capacity — prompting
some water managers to stop
water deliveries.
Many other reservoirs have
dropped below 50% capacity.
As of Aug. 22, Arrowrock
Reservoir is at 24% and Mann
Creek is at 21% in the West
Central Basins. In the Upper
Snake River Basin, Island Park
Reservoir is at 43% capacity
and American Falls is at 14%,
according to the Bureau of
Reclamation.
Many irrigation districts
have issued shutdown warnings
for September — over a month
before the usual cutoff , Farm
Bureau reported.
On the broader front, nearly
80% of the West plus Minne-
sota, North Dakota and South
Dakota are experiencing severe
drought. That’s an increase
from 68.5% the week of June
17 and a sizeable jump from the
34% a year earlier.
More than 90% of Califor-
nia, Montana, North Dakota,
Nevada, Oregon and Utah is in
severe drought or worse.
The full impact of the
multi-year drought in the West
remains to be seen, but it will
be clearer as more crops are
harvested and livestock are
brought off the range, Farm
Bureau said.
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