Re: power to the internet

[Fred Baker <fredbaker.ietf () gmail com>]

> This time it’s PG&E all alone, but still fallout from back then. Too much liability and they’ve not maintained the 
> infrastructure and so they decided that to reduce the liability costs it’s cheaper to blackout. Same story again 
> different colors. PG&E making a mint while people get screwed (PG&E was mostly at the getting screwed end in 
> 2000-2001)

PG&E has been the one in the news, but SCE appears to have been making the same choices with about the same effects. 
The Thomas Fire was briefly the largest wildfire in state history, and the source (well, with the rain) of the 
Montecito mud flow a few weeks later. We're told that SCE seems to figure in that one and several others before and 
since.

I go back and forth on who might be responsible. The electric utilities bear blame for their infrastructure; it should 
be underground, not strung from poles. I would put some to the state and the management of the various national forests 
and national parks in the area - one of the outcomes from a fire in 2007 or thereabouts was that the ecology folks had 
been protecting foliage, and that foliage burned and clogged streams, with all sorts of results. Surprise! If you're 
worried about ecology, you should support management of it. In California, there are also laws holding home-owners 
responsible for "defensible space" around their homes.

https://www.google.com/search?q=california+brush+clearing+laws
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fire <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fire>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/montecito-before-after/ 
https://www.edhat.com/news/10-homes-destroyed-in-holiday-fire 
https://www.edhat.com/news/cave-fire-now-100-contained