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PG&E tree cutting rankles some Marin residents

  • Cathy Bleecker looks over tree stumps of a bay tree...

    Cathy Bleecker looks over tree stumps of a bay tree PG&E contractors said they were going to trim on property where she permanent resides in Woodacre, Calif., on Saturday, May 21, 2022. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

  • Nancy and Dean Hanson stroll past an oak tree near...

    Nancy and Dean Hanson stroll past an oak tree near their home in Woodacre, Calif., on Friday, May 20, 2022. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

  • A car passes a redwood tree stump along San Geronimo...

    A car passes a redwood tree stump along San Geronimo Valley Road in Woodacre, Calif., on Friday, May 20, 2022. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

  • Nancy and Dean Hanson examine the stump of a tree...

    Nancy and Dean Hanson examine the stump of a tree that was cut down because of sudden oak death disease near their home in Woodacre, Calif., on Friday, May 20, 2022. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

  • Nancy and Dean Hanson examine the stump of a tree...

    Nancy and Dean Hanson examine the stump of a tree that was cut down because of sudden oak death disease near their home in Woodacre, Calif., on Friday, May 20, 2022. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

  • Pieces of redwood trees sit along San Geronimo Valley Road...

    Pieces of redwood trees sit along San Geronimo Valley Road in Woodacre, Calif., on Friday, May 20, 2022. PG&E has been trimming or cutting down trees in the San Geronimo Valley and elsewhere because of a state mandate to reduce the wildfire risk. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

  • Bill Teufel examines trimmed redwood trees near his home in...

    Bill Teufel examines trimmed redwood trees near his home in San Geronimo on Friday, May 20, 2022. PG&E has been trimming or cutting down trees in the San Geronimo Valley and elsewhere because of a state mandate to reduce the wildfire risk. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

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Efforts by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to mitigate trees that could down power lines and cause wildfires has sparked controversy in Marin.

Some residents say they were provided little notice of tree removals or came home to find stumps on their properties or streets.

Woodacre resident Cathy Bleecker said a bay tree was recently cut down without notice at the property where she lives on Maple Road. Bleecker said PG&E notified her earlier that it would be doing tree thinning at her home and later was told that crews did not know the tree was part of her property.

“It’s a burden on your heart to have something stolen from you,” Bleecker said.

PG&E has been under a state mandate since 2018 to clear more defensible space near its power equipment in areas the state deems as having a high fire risk, including nearly all of Marin County. About 25,000 miles of power lines — a length greater than the circumference of the Earth — are located in these high-fire-risk regions in PG&E’s service area in central and northern California.

In Marin, PG&E began clearing out vegetation beginning in 2019 with the goal of preventing damage to 528 miles of its distribution lines in high-fire-risk zones. PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said about 29 miles of power line work is planned this year in the Woodacre, Mill Valley and Fairfax areas.

Contreras said PG&E has an obligation to prevent any hazards to its equipment and protect communities from wildfire.

“There is no shortage of fire safety work to be done in Marin County,” Contreras said.

More and more trees that PG&E inspectors find near their power lines are dead and dying after years of drought and diseases that will only worsen with climate change, Contreras said.

The state mandate came after devastating wildfires caused by downed power lines throughout California, including the Tubbs wildfire in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties that killed 22 people and destroyed more than 5,600 structures in 2017. The state blamed the fire on a private power line and not PG&E equipment.

State investigators have blamed PG&E equipment for igniting more than 30 fires since 2017, including the state’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire, the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people and burned 236 square miles in Butte County. The utility pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the fire and has been ordered to pay billions of dollars in damages. Other fires found to have been caused by PG&E equipment include the Kincade wildfire in 2019 and the Dixie wildfire last year.

A state auditor’s report last year said Cal Fire found that fires caused by power lines hit by falling limbs or trees accounted for 74% of the acres burned by electrical power-caused wildfires in its jurisdiction from 2018 through 2020.

Under the state mandate, PG&E has taken a more aggressive approach by removing more trees, limbs and other vegetation that could take down lines. Neighborhoods and homeowners throughout the state have complained about PG&E contractors removing trees that did not appear to be at risk, or failing to provide notice.

Bill Teufel of San Geronimo said he has seen PG&E contractors come out to his property several times to cut the same stands of trees. While he agrees that PG&E should prevent fire hazards and supports the removal of certain trees, he said the utility has not been transparent about its work and that neighbors often have to confront crews to figure out why they are cutting trees. He also questioned why certain trees that did not appear to be a threat were removed.

“As a person who I suspect is paying for this through PG&E, it just seems to be poorly supervised and not very well organized, not very well explained to people,” Teufel said.

Contreras said the policy is for all property owners who have PG&E easements to be notified of upcoming work several times before crews arrive. The notifications can be through mailed advisories, door hangers, automated phone calls or foresters and arborists who come to inspect the lines.

While residents can call PG&E to voice concerns to the company, Contreras said there is no formal appeals process for the work. Local governments also do not have the authority to block the work.

While a tree might look healthy on the outside, foresters and arborists might find that the tree is diseased and at risk of falling on power lines, Contreras said.

“We know our customers in Marin love their trees,” Contreras said. “PG&E loves trees, but if we identify a tree that is dead, dying or defective, or a hazardous tree, we are going to mitigate that hazard while working with the customers. We’re happy to work with any local officials and local groups.”

Mike Blakely, a forester for the Novato Fire Protection District, used to work with PG&E on its line clearance work when he was the watershed manager for the Marin Municipal Water District. He said Marin and other areas of the state are facing a grim outlook on wildfire risks, especially as the county has gone decades now without a large wildfire.

“I think the underlying thing is that we have this power infrastructure, power lines delivering power to our houses that don’t fit our current environment,” Blakely said. “We have a lot more vegetation than we used to that’s been largely unmanaged and we have this increased fire risk. I think everybody sees that and the expectation because of climate change is we’re going to see more of the same and worse.”

At the same time, Blakely said, judgments already exist about PG&E given its history of causing wildfires in recent years. Without being provided more information as to why trees are removed or thinned, people will become more distrustful, he said.

“I think there is a big reckoning that is going on and we’re all facing that,” Blakely said. “I think there are things PG&E could do better, but they’re racing through private properties now where they have easements. I don’t think they have the luxury of going resident-to-resident and negotiating. They show up and do their work and people are shocked.”

Woodacre resident Nancy Hanson has been adamantly opposed to the tree cutting and instead called on the utility to upgrade its electrical system.

“This current panic-driven overcutting is at best a stop-gap measure that will need to be paid for and repeated annually. It must stop,” Hanson said. “What we need is a more permanent solution that allows us to coexist with nature and not further degrade our own habitat. Underground the wires or make the system safer in other ways.”

PG&E has committed to underground 10,000 miles of power lines in high-fire-risk areas and to harden its electrical system. In Marin, about 7 miles of power lines had these upgrades last year, Contreras said.

State Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire, a Democrat who lives in Healdsburg, said PG&E’s current rate of undergrounding about 100 miles per year is too slow of a pace given the risk its equipment poses to the state.

McGuire introduced a bill this year, SB 884, that would require PG&E to bury 10,000 miles of its lines within the next decade, or 1,000 miles per year, or face penalties. He said PG&E is spending more than $1 billion a year on tree trimming, with the vast majority of those funds being covered by ratepayers.

“It’s simply not sustainable,” McGuire said. “Our solution, which should have been advanced decades ago, is to get the most high-fire-threat power lines underground once and for all. Once we underground these power lines the tree trimming debate stops.”

The bill would also require PG&E to use available federal funds for the projects before using other funding sources. Environmental lawsuits challenging the work would also have to go before a judge for trial within 270 days.

The bill is facing a “huge fight,” McGuire said, because it would also require telecommunications companies to underground equipment that is placed on PG&E power poles.

“We have to pick up the pace,” McGuire said. “This insanity must be stopped. The state of California has to step up, has to become more aggressive and hold this utility accountable.”

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