Energy and Technology

PG&E May Proactively Turn Off Power for Safety in Portions of 12 Counties. Sonoma County officials are prepared to notify residents who will likely be impacted by PG&E’s planned power shut-off this evening, due to extreme weather conditions: unincorporated areas of northeastern and eastern Sonoma County. Sonoma County Emergency Services officials will send out aSoCoAlert to notify residents in advance of potential impacts and to alert them to possible critical communications outages.

Erin Brockovich, one of the nation’s leading consumer advocates, has joined theMauro Archer & Associates andWatts Guerra team North Bay residents against PG&E over its role in the October 2017 wildfires.

The 2nd annual Sonoma County Zero Waste Symposium in May galvanized this gathering of leaders committed to reducing waste. It offered an opportunity for those active in managing post-fire resources to share the importance of perpetual emergency preparedness and collaboration as future issues arise with climate change. We can apply what was learned from the fires as a model for community resiliency and sustainability going forward.

CAL FIRE - MAY 25, 2018: After extensive and thorough investigations, CAL FIRE investigators have determined that four Northern California wildfires in last year’s October Fire Siege were caused by trees coming into contact with power lines. The four fires, located in Butte and Nevada counties, are the completed.

Sonoma County is facing seemingly insurmountable Budget issues, in part, resulting from the horrendous fires last fall. Everything has been expensive, from fire fighting to cleanup and recovery.

The question now is: “How does the County move forward in coping with the immense budget disparity?”

Each year, in honor of Bike to Work Month in May, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition (SCBC) honors one inspiring cyclist as Bike Commuter of the Year. This year’s winner Dr. Tracey Jones is so dedicated to bicycle commuting that when she moved to Santa Rosa for her job at Kaiser, she prioritized choosing a home within cycling distance of the hospital.

September was a big month for the planet. On September 8th, “Rise for Climate, Justice, and Jobs,” drew over 30,000 people to the streets of San Francisco, joining thousands of others at 900 events in 90 countries. All this was designed to say it is time for a Fossil Free World with Renewable Energy for All, a message for leaders from all over the world, who gathered September 12-14 at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, to celebrate the climate action achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors, and citizens.

Sonoma County DRAFT Fire Recovery and Resiliency Plan - PUBLIC COMMENT DEADLINE: October 26, 2018. As we continue to recover and rebuild a year after the North Bay fires of October 2017, the DRAFT Recovery and Resiliency Framework just released by the Sonoma County Office of Recovery and Resiliency offers a pathway for starting to look forward.

North Bay residents participated in both sides of a debate at the Global Climate Action Summit over how to best fight climate change and whether local governments have done enough.

Under the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance, the USDA provides grants, of up to 25% of projects costs, to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase and install energy efficiency improvements. To learn more about the program, sign-up for the upcoming workshop and resource fair on November 6^th in Santa Rosa. 

PG&E installed its 100th weather station in Sonoma County to capture additional meteorological data to predict where extreme wildfire danger could occur.

After a month of discussion, a legislative committee tasked with writing regulations governing wildfire preparedness and responses released draft legislation on Tuesday night, just three days before the end of the legislative session.

The Wildfire Preparedness and Response Legislative Conference Committee, a ten-member group of Senators and Assemblymembers tasked with writing a bi-partisan bill to improve California’s rules for wildfire response, mitigation and prevention.

As droughts and wildfires become the norm in Northern California, rainwater catchment systems could play a role in making our communities more sustainable and resilient.

PG&E’s Wildfire Safety Operations Centerhas been activated due to theRed Flag Warning and elevated fire dangers in the North Bay. We don’t anticipate needing to do aPublic Safety Power Shutoff.  But we do want customers to update their contact info atwww.pge.com/mywildfirealerts.