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‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

nytimes.com

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Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#271

Post by zaroth »

ncmncm wrote: post #269
zaroth wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medicaid should cover it.

Why not PGE? What control does Medicaid have over power distribution system maintenance?

Because no utility can guarantee continuous service, nor should they economically be on the hook to provide batteries to everyone who needs 100% continuous service.

Medicaid has no control over power distribution system maintenance but can absolutely foresee occasional unscheduled electrical outages occurring.

Just like many essential buildings, like hospitals, provision their own electrical backup systems, so too must individuals who medically rely on power.

Here’s a site talking about emergency preparedness for households with children which require medical monitoring including equipment which requires AC power;

https://complexchild.org/articles/2011-articles/december/pow...

Keeping someone alive is sometimes tough work. There is a high level of individual responsibility here for someone who is not in an assisted living facility.

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#272

Post by listenallyall »

dredmorbius wrote: post #70
whatshisface wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did president Regan privatize a California utility?

PG&E was never a public utility. I suspect the harm meant was more of the general form of "government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem". http://factmyth.com/factoids/reagan-said-government-is-the-p...

Except that poster wanted the utility to be taken over by the government. Thus the comment was in favor of increasing government.

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#273

Post by inferiorhuman »

khuey wrote: post #175
inferiorhuman wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to the forty-odd folks killed in 2017, PG&E started the the Camp Fire (2018) where 85 people died, one is still missing, and 17 were injured. Who knows how many will get sick from the chemicals leeching out of the plastic water infrastructure and into the water itself. In 2015, PG&E only killed two people (Butte Fire). PG&E also poisoned a few hundred in Hinkley (the town Erin Brockovich made famous). PG&…

The Tubbs Fire was probably not caused by PG&E equipment.

The Tubbs Fire was probably not caused by PG&E equipment.

You're right, and if you take a look at what I wrote I did not mention the Tubbs Fire. Plenty of folks have died at the hands of PG&E, and I mistakenly added a link to it however.

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#274

Post by inferiorhuman »

rayiner wrote: post #258
inferiorhuman wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CAHSR died the death of a thousand paper cuts (e.g. SF and south bay routing, grade separation, signalling, trump). All of that created an untenable situation. The closest equivalent with municipal power is the gobs of money PG&E has spent trying to kill local and statewide public power legislation.

Routing, grade separation, and signaling are things any train system must deal with. The lesson from CAHSR is that the California government was too incompetent to be able to handle something that many governments around the world handle just fine. As to Trump—CAHSR had already failed by the time Trump took office. He simply demanded the federal government’s money back.

The lesson from CAHSR is that the California government was too incompetent to be able to handle something that many governments around the world handle just fine.

How do you get incompetence from being sued at every turn by people trying to micromanage the CAHSR project? The trump approach of ruling by fiat doesn't work in the real world.

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#275

Post by inferiorhuman »

rayiner wrote: post #260
inferiorhuman wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In one comment chain, we have Regan (sic) blamed for "privatizing" CA utilities and Trump blamed for CAHSR. Whether or not you agree with his actions Trump absolutely tried to kill CAHSR. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-high-speed-rail-20...

Trump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable.

Trump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable.

So what you're saying is that trump is trying to kill CAHSR? Got it.

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#276

Post by masonic »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #210
masonic wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In one comment chain, we have Regan (sic) blamed for "privatizing" CA utilities and Trump blamed for CAHSR.

In one comment chain, we have Regan (sic) blamed for "privatizing" CA utilities and Trump blamed for CAHSR. Whether or not you agree with his actions Trump absolutely tried to kill CAHSR. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-high-speed-rail-20...

And within this article alone, you find specific references about how CAHSR failed to comply with the conditions of the funding:

'Ronald Batory, (the Obama Administration's) chief of the Federal Railroad Administration, the transportation agency that made the grants in 2009 and 2010, laid out a lengthy legal argument Tuesday for why the state was out of compliance with the grant agreement. Batory said in a three-page letter to California High-Speed Rail Authority Chief Executive Brian Kelly that the state “has materially failed to comply with the terms of the agreement and has failed to make reasonable progress on the project.”

Batory alleged that the state had failed to spend required matching funds, falling short by $100 million as of December. He argued that it will fail to complete the Central Valley construction by a 2022 deadline required by the grant. Batory also said the state has not submitted required financial information — such as reports on what has been delivered to date — that would allow federal regulators to oversee the grants. It also has failed to take corrective actions after regulators raised concerns in 2017 and 2018.'

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#277

Post by masonic »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #275
rayiner wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable.

Trump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable. So what you're saying is that trump is trying to kill CAHSR? Got it.

  trump is trying to kill CAHSR?
No. CAHSR is probably dying but due to CA's own lies and ineptitude.

All the Trump administration did is say, "you were promised funding conditional on it being spent on X, Y, and Z. Instead, CA spent that money on the infrastructure equivalent of hookers and blow[0]. Therefore, we are simply cancelling the funding per the agreement and the law because essentially none went to X, Y, or Z."

CAHSR is free to proceed (as far as the Administration is concerned) however they want with their own funds and the promised investor funds. In other words, pay for your own hookers and blow.

[0] 'In one especially egregious case, in 2017, the CHSRA hired an external consultant to check the work of Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP USA), which had been paid $666 million for engineering consulting. The external consultant found that the CHSRA had not received finished work for 145 of 184 tasks that Parsons Brinckerhoff had called “complete.”'

https://www.city-journal.org/californias-high-speed-rail-pro...

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#278

Post by hackeraccount »

solotronics wrote: post #156

Is there not a technical solution to this? A side effect here will be people creating their own power systems. I have already had my power go off 4 times this year and now I am looking at solar panels, batteries, and a natural gas generator.

Sure but most people aren't you. When they think "Hey, my power isn't reliable." they go buy a diesel generator. Maybe a gas one. Arguably that's not even a bad choice.

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#279

Post by inferiorhuman »

masonic wrote: post #277
inferiorhuman wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable. So what you're saying is that trump is trying to kill CAHSR? Got it.

trump is trying to kill CAHSR? No. CAHSR is probably dying but due to CA's own lies and ineptitude . All the Trump administration did is say, "you were promised funding conditional on it being spent on X, Y, and Z. Instead, CA spent that money on the infrastructure equivalent of hookers and blow[0]. Therefore, we are simply cancelling the funding per the agreement and the law because essentially none went to X, Y, or…

[flagged]

Re: ‘This Did Not Go Well’: Inside PG&E’s Blackout Control Room

#280

Post by r00fus »

dragonwriter wrote: post #144
luckydata wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My money is they get taken over by the state. Privatizing a utility was always a stupid move to begin with and they are finally proving it beyond any reasonable doubt. It's time we get to fixing all the damage Regan did to this country.

> My money is they get taken over by the state. A number of their operations are being taken over by local public utilities in the current bankruptcy. > Privatizing a utility was always a stupid move to begin with PG&E isn't the result of privatizing a public utility, it's always been private. > It's time we get to fixing all the damage Regan did to this country If you mean Ronald Reagan, PG&E (or it's predecessors b…

Transmission is not being localized. AFAIK, PG&E still owns the vast majority of lines.
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