Local representatives announce legislation meant to curb PGE power shutoffs, future wildfires

California’s plan to fight climate change by investing in renewable power might need some restructuring – and that’s the goal of a bill expected to be proposed by two local Republican lawmakers at the start of the new year.

Over the weekend, Assemblyman James Gallagher and state Sen. Jim Nielsen announced their plans to introduce legislation that would temporarily halt the state’s renewable power mandates and see the savings from that go toward upgrading the state’s power grid and investing in programs that reduce forest fuel.

With the number of wildfires experienced in recent years and the impacts of their carbon emissions on the climate, the local legislators say the state’s priorities need to change.

“We have an outdated power grid that is falling apart and causing fires. On top of that, we have fuels, primarily in the forested lands, that have been allowed to build up,” Gallagher said. “So, the concept behind the bill is for the state to put a hold on its renewable energy mandates and to use the money that goes into those to help get a handle on the real issues. Those are the two primary problems that need to be fixed, and ratepayer dollars should be put toward that until those underlying problems have been solved.”

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. currently spends around $2.4 billion a year in meeting its renewable power mandates, Gallagher said. At the same time, the utility company spent only $1.5 billion in 2017 to update its century-old infrastructure.

He said PGE is already producing 85 percent of its power from renewable and carbon-free sources. Compare that, he said, with emissions from wildfires, which in 2018 generated 45 million metric tons of carbon – nine times more than the state’s combined reductions from 2016 and 2017. That alone, he said, should be enough reason for the proposed bill to receive bipartisan support.

“We are getting decimated in reducing carbon emissions because we are not doing what is needed in terms of forestry management and because of our antiquated electrical infrastructure,” Gallagher said. “It’s just a better investment. Forestry management is the number one way to reduce carbon emissions. To me, this is a common sense policy. We aren’t rolling back climate goals, just putting the mandate on hold until we take care of these other problems.”

In addition to hardening the state’s power grid and investing in reducing forest fuels, the proposal would also call for executive compensation and bonuses at investor-owned utilities like PGE to be frozen. Nielsen said this would add another layer to the proposal that could encourage immediate action.

“We are not waiting 10 years. No more power shutoffs. It needs to happen now,” Nielsen said in a press release. “Millions without electricity is what a third world country looks like, not a state that is the fifth largest economy in the world.”

Both Nielsen and Gallagher plan on introducing a joint resolution, as well, urging the federal bankruptcy court to rescind PGE’S current high-cost renewable energy contracts. Reports show that some of PGE’S pre2012 solar contracts now cost the company an added $2.2 billion per year due to outdated abovemarket prices, but voiding those contracts would allow the company to buy the same renewable power at a lower price. The savings could be used to invest in projects that reduce fire danger and future blackout events, they said.

“Bankruptcy is typically a place to get out of bad contracts,” Nielsen said in a press release. “Victims and ratepayers must be the priority. Our legislation is another opportunity to get back to the basics of providing safe and reliable power.”

Nielsen and Gallagher plan to formally introduce the proposal when the Legislature reconvenes for its next session in January.