Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler is questioning whether California’s strict climate and environmental regulations were to blame for recent power blackouts in the state.
“I’m afraid it was inevitable,” the EPA chief said of the California blackout during remarks Tuesday at the Detroit Economic Club, because of utilities’ inability to clear away debris from their power lines “for whatever reason.”
Wheeler was referring to recent power shutdowns imposed by Pacific Gas and Electric, California’s largest investor-owned utility, that left nearly 800,000 customers without electricity over a span of four days.
PG&E said the power shutdown was necessary to avoid the risk of wildfires during severe wind conditions in California. The company is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings driven by billions in liabilities it is facing over its equipment’s role in wildfires, including the deadly Camp Fire last year.
Wheeler said he understood the risks PG&E and other California utilities are facing. But he suggested he didn’t buy into California policymakers’ statements that it is all the utilities’ fault.
“There’s still a question on whether or not the real problem is a lack of financial resources or the state environmental regulations prohibiting them from going on to property to clear out the dead trees,” Wheeler said. He didn’t elaborate on which regulations he thought were restrictive.
“I don’t see that they had any choice but to shut it down,” Wheeler said of PG&E.
The utility and other power providers in California have already suggested the state could face more power shutdowns this wildfire season.
