The Northern California Power Agency recently submitted a letter requesting California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature on Senate Bill 1370, which streamlines California's wildfire mitigation by consolidating project reviews into an expedited process.
“Publicly owned utility staff live and work in the communities they serve and take wildfire risk seriously, implementing rigorous mitigation practices every day. But delays in project review and execution carry real consequences,” NCPA noted in a Sept. 14 LinkedIn post.
SB 1370, authored by Senator Henry Stern, allows utilities to execute vegetation management and infrastructure hardening without administrative delay, while maintaining strong environmental standards.
As an example of public power’s leadership in this area, NCPA member City of Redding Electric Utility Department (REU) continues to demonstrate the impact of proactive fire prevention as part of its ongoing wildfire mitigation work, NCPA said.
Operating in high fire-threat zones, REU has wrapped over 800 power poles in fire-retardant mesh, cleared vegetation across hundreds of acres, and deployed integrated communication and situational awareness tools with local emergency responders.
“To facilitate these kinds of impactful and effective prevention measures across the state, the streamlining provided by SB 1370 gives consumer-owned utilities the regulatory support needed to protect public safety, strengthen grid resilience, and deliver safe, reliable, and affordable power,” NCPA said in the post.
The American Public Power Association offers its members a collection of resources to assist utilities in crafting their wildfire mitigation plans.
