BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1463 (Moorlach) - Electrical lines: mitigation of wildfire
risks
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|Version: April 19, 2016 |Policy Vote: E., U., & C. 9 - |
| | 0, N.R. & W. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 16, 2016 |Consultant: Narisha Bonakdar |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 1463 requires the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC), in consultation with the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFIRE), to prioritize areas in
which communities are at high risk from the consequences of
wildfires when determining areas which require enhanced
mitigation measures for wildfire hazards posed by overhead
electrical lines and equipment. The bill also requires the CPUC
to develop a definition of "enhanced mitigation measures" in a
specified proceeding.
Fiscal Impact:
A total of $582,000 (State Responsibility Area fee or General
Fund) over two years for CalFIRE to assess map criteria,
oversee Fire Threat Map revision, and validate the map against
known electrical utility fires.
Minor costs to the CPUC (Public Utilities Commission Utilities
Reimbursement Account) for initial prioritization efforts in
the existing proceeding.
SB 1463 (Moorlach) Page 1 of
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Background: CPUC efforts to address wildfires. As set forth by the Senate
Energy and Utilities Committee which heard this bill on April 5,
a series of large wildfires ignited and burned hundreds of
thousands of acres in several counties in Southern California in
2007. The fires displaced nearly one million residents,
destroyed thousands of homes, and took the lives of ten people
and an additional seven who died from evacuating or from fire
related causes. These fires included the Witch Fire, one of the
nation's most damaging, which was ignited by power lines. After
the 2007 fires ravaged several areas of the state, in 2008, the
CPUC initiated rulemaking proceeding to address fires related to
utility poles.
The CPUC's efforts have resulted in additional requirements on
utilities to reduce the likelihood of fires started by or
threatening utility facilities, including improved vegetation
management, as well as, requiring the utilities to develop
electric utility fire prevention plans. The first phase also
adopted fire hazard maps of high-risk areas in Southern
California. In May 2015, the CPUC opened a new rulemaking
proceeding to develop and adopt fire-threat maps and fire-safety
regulations (R. 15-05-006). The CPUC tasked CalFIRE to oversee
and select outside experts to develop a more refined statewide
fire hazard map.
As noted in the Scoping Memo, the fire-threat map will be based
on approximately 150 terabytes of fire-weather data, which will
be used to run millions of fire simulations to build a high
resolution, statewide fire-treat map. The CPUC and CalFIRE have
conducted workshops to solicit feedback on the draft map. After
a couple of delays, a final map was issued on February 12, 2016.
Additionally, the CPUC has announced a safety en banc related to
utility pole safety on April 28, 2016 in Los Angeles. The agenda
for the en banc includes representatives from CalFIRE, electric
utilities, communications utilities and providers and other
stakeholders.
Laguna's experience with wildfire. On Friday, July 3, 2015, a
portion of Laguna Canyon area experienced a fire when falling
trees hit a power line on Arroyo Drive which sparked a fire on a
brush covered hillside along Laguna Canyon Road. With light
winds and air support, the fire was knocked down after burning
about 15 acres. Five aircraft and 150 firefighters were
SB 1463 (Moorlach) Page 2 of
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deployed. Based on a local news story, the brush fire prompted
the Mayor to call for an all-out effort to underground utilities
citywide. According to the same Laguna Beach Indy newspaper
story, residents, motivated by improving views and lowering fire
risk, themselves have footed the bill to bury utility lines in
their own neighborhoods in 40 percent of the city, the public
works department estimates. According to a city statement, since
2007, at least four fires have been attributed to above-ground
electric utilities and been involved in 46 accidents along
Laguna Canyon Road, the city statement says. Laguna Beach has
also experienced one of the nation's costliest fires. In 1993 an
arsonist-caused fire burned 16,000 acres and destroyed or
severely damaged over 400 homes and caused $528 million dollars
in damage.
Mapping fire hazard and risk. The City of Laguna Beach submitted
comments into the proceeding to express the city's objections to
the map, particularly because the map places the city under the
lowest margins of the Utility Fire Threat index. The City of
Laguna Beach stated that the map has limitations and correcting
what appears to be the exclusion of key criteria that
artificially eliminates developed communities from high wildfire
risk categories, including housing density and local fire
history. The City points to a 2008 CalFIRE Fire Hazard Severity
Zone Development map which designates 90 percent of the City in
a very high fire hazard severity zone. They also submitted
comments to request the CPUC explain how the map will be used
prior to adoption, so as to ensure utilities won't point to the
map and argued that communities, such as Laguna Beach, are not
at risk for wildfire.
As noted in the CPUC Scoping Memo after the initial map was
developed for Southern California, the task of developing a
state-of-the science fire-threat map has proven to be a
difficult challenge.
Proposed Law: This bill:
Requires the CPUC, in consultation with CalFIRE, to prioritize
areas in which communities are at high risk from the
consequences of wildfires when determining areas which require
enhanced mitigation measures for wildfire hazards posed by
SB 1463 (Moorlach) Page 3 of
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overhead electrical lines and equipment.
Requires the CPUC to develop a definition of "enhanced
mitigation measures" in Rulemaking 15-05-006 (Filed May 7,
2015), Order Instituting Rulemaking to Develop and Adopt
Fire-Threat Maps and Fire-Safety Regulations, or in another
appropriate proceeding.
Requires that any findings supporting a decision to approve
the boundaries for areas describe how the commission
incorporated the concerns of local governments, fire
departments, or both in determining those boundaries.
Staff Comments: The fire prevention activities required in this
bill would be eligible for use of SRA fee funds. However, staff
notes that the legality of the SRA is being challenged in court.
The committee may wish to consider this a General Fund.
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