Electricity situation is `very dire'
$900 million needed to upgrade infrastructure, PG&E says
On Monday, the Fortuna City Council met with an agenda headlined by an existential threat to the city.
“Something like this could bankrupt our city,” said Fortuna City Councilmember Tami Trent of the implications and the need for resolution from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Fortuna City Manager Merrit Perry delivered the preliminary news to the council: PG&E is unable to provide adequate electricity for the multitude of development projects underway in the Eel River Valley and Southern Humboldt County. At the core of the issue is reduced power running through outdated transmission lines and transformers to various sites in Fortuna, Rio Dell, and elsewhere in Southern Humboldt County. The reduced power is partially a result of risk mitigation efforts by PG&E in the wake of the sparks that led to several wildfires in the past few years. “The more we think about it and learn about it, the more we're concerned,” said Perry in the meeting on Monday.
Those concerns are multifaceted. The first is the $900 million cost for PG&E to resolve the issue and the estimated 7 to 10 years it would take for the project to complete. In the mean time, PG&E has continued to issue “will serve” letters to developers regarding power while neglecting to mention the service could take up to a decade to be operational.
Perry delivered an optimistic outlook that existing projects could be serviced, but was also realistic in presenting examples of two existing projects that illustrate the problem facing Fortuna and Southern Humboldt County. One was previously the site of a mill that had one developer interested in proceeding on a package distribution center, although that project was paused.
“There's now a new developer that wants to buy the site and develop it,” added Perry. “If we tell them, and we have, that there's uncertainty with the power and it could take 10 years, chances are they won't want to move forward.”
Another property across from Strongs Creek Plaza, which was the source of plenty of investment to attract retail businesses to the city, is now in jeopardy because of the lack of power. The economic impact of losing construction jobs and other revenues for the city was a point of concern. But the implications are deeper and more serious than even the economic impact. Critical infrastructure projects, such as a new wastewater treatment plant, are now in jeopardy.
Humboldt County 2nd District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, offered her perspective on Monday that the outlook presented at the meeting was in fact, too positive.
“I don't know that residential will be able to be hooked up either,” said Bushnell of the situation. “It's very, very dire.”
In addition to concerns about residential developments, Bushnell was very concerned of the impact on the construction of the Jerold Phelps Community Hospital in Garberville. On Wednesday, Bushnell expressed confusion as only a few weeks earlier she had been told by PG&E that the company was anticipating issues with power for the hospital.
“They said there wasn't the capacity and didn't even know about the hospital,” said Bushnell of the prior meeting. “Realizing that the hospital is critical, they were going to divert some power from the Bridgeville area down there. So that's great.”
But still, there is lingering concern around the messaging from PG&E. There's no clarity on when PG&E first knew, or should've known, about the issue. Bushnell pointed out that various local officials became aware because of multiple delinquent “will serve” letters from PG&E that were never completed. Some developers had been waiting over a year for power.
“I mean, if you're not hooking people up, you know that there's an issue right?” said Bushnell of her questions of PG&E while still clarifying that she's relying on the company for updates, including on the exorbitant cost. “Financially, any kind of business would not invest a billion dollars to get a small amount of return on that.”
Right now, officials have a multitude of questions and very few answers. Bushnell was complimentary of the response by state Sen. Mike Mcguire, and Bushnell would be joining a meeting with Mcguire and officials from PG&E later on Wednesday. Additionally, mandates around the state's Climate Action Plan would be unattainable given the current power limitations. A more detailed presentation from PG&E is expected in the first week of November.
A statement from PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras read in part, “Our multi-year grid plan is addressing needs in this area through projects already in progress, and others planned over the next few years. These include a line reconductoring project and upgrades to the Rio Dell substation to increase capacity in Fortuna and Rio Dell; transmission and distribution system line reconductoring, and upgrades at the Garberville substation, to increase capacity for serving the Garberville area.”
She added that projects have varying timelines.
“While some of this work is longer-term, in the short-term our capacity work planned through next year will support smaller energy load applications,” Contreras said.