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MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Carol J. Huchingson, County Administrative Officer
DATE: October 31, 2019
SUBJECT: Discussion and Consideration of a Letter to the California Public Utilities Commission, "PSPS Events are tearing the fabric of California's most vulnerable communities, and citizens are unable to plan their lives: when will the Commission intervene?"
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
During your last regular meeting on October 22, 2019, your Board received considerable public input from your constituents regarding the difficulties they suffered as a result of the October 9, 2019 Public Safety Power Shutoff event. In total, as your Board is painfully aware, the four recent PSPS events have brought innumerable forms of disruption to Lake County's communities, and some of our most vulnerable individuals. There can be no room for PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission to mistake the fact these events are disastrous for many California residents, and those most affected are too often those already facing immense challenge.
Members of your Board have been adamant that there are realities that must be faced, and PSPS Events are an inadequate, dysfunctional solution to wildfire risk. It is a reality that not everyone is independently able to buy and install a generator. It is a reality that minimum wage and other workers, hardworking people surviving paycheck to paycheck, are affected when their employers are unable or choose not to purchase generators.
Each of you have individually expressed that the effects upon our social structures are too great for us to remain silent. The attached letter, addressed to Marybel Batjer, President of the California Public Utilities Commission, documents Lake County's concerns.
FISCAL IMPACT: _x_ None __Budgeted __Non-Budgeted
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FISCAL IMPACT (Narrative): None
STAFFING IMPACT (if ap...
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