Underground Construction - August 2021 - 8

NEWSLINE LATEST INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
Biden Picks Career Policy
Adviser to Lead Water Agency
President Joe Biden nominated Camille
Touton, a veteran congressional water policy
adviser, to lead the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
which oversees water in 17 western states
and power in 13.
If confi rmed, Touton will be a central fi gure
in negotiations among several states over the
future of the Colorado River. The Nevada native
would succeed Brenda Burman, who now works
for an Arizona entity managing a canal system
that delivers Colorado River water to the state's
most populous areas.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada,
New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico all
rely on the river that fl ows from the Rocky
Mountains into the Gulf of California.
Ongoing drought and growing demand for
water have diminished the river that supplies
40 million people, and the agency is expected
to mandate water cuts for the fi rst time in 2022.
Some states have already given up shares of
their water voluntarily under a drought plan.
Touton was named deputy commissioner
in January after working on water issues for
various congressional committees and as
a deputy assistant secretary in the Interior
Department under the Obama administration.
Supreme Court Sides
with Pipeline Developer
in New Jersey Dispute
The Supreme Court sided with a pipeline
company in a dispute with New Jersey over land
the company needs for a natural gas pipeline.
Both liberal and conservative justices joined
PG&E to Move 10,000 Miles of Power Lines Underground
Pacifi c Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has announced a major new initiative to expand the
undergrounding of electric distribution power lines in High Fire Threat Districts (HFTD) to further
harden its system and help prevent wildfi res.
The new infrastructure safety initiative, announced in Butte County by PG&E Corporation CEO Patti
Poppe, is a multi-year eff ort to underground approximately 10,000 miles of power lines.
" We want what all of our customers want: a safe and resilient energy system, " Poppe said. " We have
taken a stand that catastrophic wildfi res shall stop. "
PG&E's initiative was announced shortly after the Dixie Fire erupted in Northern California's Butte
and Plumas counties in mid-July. The aggressive fi re, primed by a landscape of heat- and droughtstricken
vegetation, had surpassed 100,000 acres and become California's fi rst " megafi re " of the year
at press time, with only about 17% of the blaze contained.
PG&E said in a report to the California Public Utilities Commission that its equipment may have
started the Dixie Fire. One of its employees, responding to a reported outage, found two blown fuses
and a tree leaning into a conductor. The conductor " was still intact and suspended on the poles, "
according to the report, and there was a fi re near the base of the tree. The employee reported the fi re
immediately, but the fi re grew quickly with low humidity and gusty winds in the area.
PG&E's equipment has caused similar incidents in the past, including a 2019 wildfi re that burned
through 120 square miles and destroyed 374 buildings.
The company maintains more than 25,000 miles of overhead distribution power lines in the
highest fi re-threat areas, which is more than 30% of its total distribution overhead system.
The exact number of projects or miles buried each year will depend on project scoping and
inspections, estimating and engineering review, said PG&E, which described the initiative as the
largest such eff ort of its kind to be undertaken as a wildfi re risk-reduction measure in the United States.
In addition to reducing wildfi re risk, undergrounding also lessens the risk of Public Safety Power
Shutoff s, which are called as a last resort when dry, windy conditions raise the threat of trees contacting
live power lines. It also eases vegetation management eff orts and leaves more trees untouched.
8 AUGUST 2021 | UCONonline.com
to rule 5-4 for the PennEast Pipeline Co.
The 116-mile planned pipeline is to run from
Pennsylvania's Luzerne County to Mercer County
in New Jersey. The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) had allowed the company's
project to move forward in 2018 by granting
PennEast a certifi cate of public convenience and
necessity, but lawsuits followed.
The company ultimately took New Jersey
to court to acquire state-controlled land for
its project. PennEast argued the commission's
greenlighting of its project allowed it to take
New Jersey to court and to use eminent domain
to acquire state-controlled properties. The
Supreme Court agreed.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the
majority that when FERC issues a certifi cate of
public convenience and necessity, federal law
authorizes the certifi cate's holder " to condemn
all necessary rights-of-way, whether owned by
private parties or States. "
The decision from the high court doesn't end
litigation over the pipeline. A separate challenge
to the pipeline involving New Jersey is pending
in a federal appeals court in Washington.
Alabama City Seeks to Cut
Water Use Over Leaking Pipe
Tuscaloosa, Alabama is ordering most of its
water customers to use less, saying a leak in a

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Underground Construction - August 2021

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