PETITION TO UNDERGROUND POWERLINES IN OAKLAND HILLS' MONTCLAIR DISTRICT                              

 ·      PG&E’s current 10,000-Miles Undergrounding plan does NOT include powerlines in Montclair.

 ·      Oakland’s Montclair neighborhood is almost exclusively situated in a Very High Fire Severity Zone, according to CalFIRE. 

·      Due to recognized high-risk factors, the Oakland Hills' Montclair District should be included in the 10,000-Miles Undergrounding program.  

·      Excluding Montclair from the Undergrounding program fails to meet the intent and goal of SB884: to substantially prevent wildfires and reduce power outages.  

·      While potential loss of property would be catastrophic, potential damages due to loss of life would be incalculable.

Background:

·      PG&E implemented the 10,000-Miles Undergrounding Program in 2021 to underground distribution-powerlines to prevent wildfires and reduce power outages. ·On September 29, 2022, the Governor signed SB 884 to expedite undergrounding of electrical powerlines and provide funding if PG&E’s undergrounding plan is approved by the Office of Energy Safety and CPUC.· 

·     PG&E’s undergrounding plan does not take into account the risks of “ingress and egress.” Montclair’s roads are narrow and windy. Evacuation routes are extremely limited for the area's population size and density.  PG&E’s powerlines crisscross over Montclair’s limited evacuation routes. 

·      Montclair’s topography, vegetation, climate, and dense population are similar to the area in the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm that killed 25 people, destroyed more than 3,400 homes, and caused damages estimated at $3 billion in today’s dollars.

·      In 1995, another fire in Montclair was caused by sparks falling from PG&E powerlines that were whipped by high winds.  The sparks ignited a fire on the slope of Shepherd Canyon below Asilomar Drive and destroyed several homes.  PG&E admitted fault and accepted liability.

·      With climate change and increasingly hot and dry fire seasons, the wildfire risk in Montclair and the Oakland Hills has markedly increased in recent years.

·      Although PG&E has performed some powerline “hardening,” in light of the factors described above, the overhead powerlines pose an immense wildfire risk in Montclair.

Therefore, we petition PG&E, CPUC, and the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to underground the distribution powerlines in Oaklands' Montclair District under PG&E’s 10,000-Miles Undergrounding Program: