Earlier this year an incident in Massachusetts saw a gas utility explode neighborhoods of homes in two towns. The homes were a complete loss and there was at least one death. This is not simply a coincidence, it regards the deregulation of these utilities to facilitate higher profits.
Literally, the government is trading profits for lives and the people need to move to replace regulations by demanding the utilities to comply to protect lives.
The forest deregulation President Trump wants to instill across the USA would be still yet another assault on the lives of the American people.
2018 Deregulation (click here)
With a dangerous climate, there is no room for error and deregulation is simply wrong.
Inspectors have to be ON THE JOB and there needs to be improved funding for the increased numbers of regulators and inspectors required due to the Climate Crisis.
You can't simply cut down every tree in the country as a means to end wildfires. That is crazy and dangerous. President Trump's words, as usual, are uneducated and based on political crony preferences.
June 28, 2016
By Zoe Hoyle
Dale Brockway, (click here) research ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), recently published his annual summary of projected longleaf pine cone production for 2016 and 2017. The report shows an overall failure of the crop for 2016, and a fair outlook for 2017.
“Our estimates show the 2016 crop averaging only 3.4 cones per tree,” says Brockway, who is stationed at the SRS Restoring and Managing Longleaf Pine Ecosystems unit in Auburn, Alabama. “The natural variation that we usually see throughout the longleaf pine range is less evident this year, with all sites being fairly low in production.”
Only one site in Bladen County, North Carolina, produced more than 10 cones per tree. All other sites were below that level of output.
“Longleaf pine cone production was very high in 2014, and it’s not unusual for a year of high cone yield to be followed by a couple of years with much smaller crops,” says Brockway. “More productive years will follow, as trees recover their internal resources.”...
Healthy forests with an intact canopy and a moist forest floor because of NATIVE plant coverage is required more than ever in 2018 and into the future. The understory of any forest, including floor cover, is vital to a forest that is not easily ignited. Roads are death to canopy coverage in the way they are carried out today. When a forest floor is opened to strong sunlight the floor begins to suffer and the dryness increases. The liter everyone complains about doesn't occur with a complete canopy.
There is a forest that flourishes better than others with an open canopy, the Long Leaf Pine forests of the southeast USA have an open canopy, HOWEVER, the forest floor is moist and full of safety because of the incredibly diverse and wonderful floor cover. There are only three Long Leaf Pine forests in the southeast USA intact in a way it survives. Yes, there are controlled burns about every three years, however, the return of the biotic content is quick and the forest floor is once again covered in a way that preserves moisture.
If politicians don't understand silvaculture, they should not be setting policy.
November 12, 2018
By Rachel Layne
Amid California's deadly wildfires, (click here) shares of two major California electric utility companies, PG&E and Edison International, sank Monday. Investors are worried the companies may be liable in the historic fires now engulfing large swaths of the state, killing at least 31 people.
PG&E fell around 14 percent in late Monday trading, bringing its two-day decline to as much as 48 percent since the Camp Fire began to burn near San Francisco last week.
Edison International lost more than one-third of its value over two trading days since the Woolsey and Hill fires broke out near Los Angeles late last week. The stock fell some 12 percent further on Monday....
...PG&E said in a statement it will cooperate with any investigations stemming from the massive wildfires in Northern California. The company told state regulators Thursday that it experienced a problem on an electrical transmission line near the site of the blaze minutes before the fire broke out. PG&E later saw damage to a transmission tower on the line.
Lynsey Paulo, a PG&E spokesperson, said the information was preliminary and stressed the cause of the fire has not been determined, according to a report from the Associated Press.
PG&E equipment has been involved with several deadly wildfires this year in California, racking up costs of more than $2 billion, net of insurance payments tied to those fires, according to industry publication Utility Dive. The company warned of potential liabilities tied to 2017 wildfires and the risk of inverse condemnation in its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Southern California Edison, a unit of Edison International serving that area, said in a statement Friday that it filed an initial report with preliminary information on the Woolsey fire with the California Public Utilities Commission. Like PG&E, the company also cited potential liability tied to last year's Southern California wildfires in its 2017 annual SEC filing.
There "has been no determination of origin or cause of either wildfire," Southern California Edison said in the statement, the latest on its website. The company added it would "fully cooperate with any investigations."
