Lawmakers Grill PG&E about Power Shutdowns

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Sonoma County Supervisors and Santa Rosa City Councilmembers were briefed by PG&E on Tuesday, about the impacts of possible power shutdowns during critical wildfire emergencies.

For their part, supervisors adopted an action plan for how the county will attempt to provide essential services in a blackout that could leave up to 90 percent of the county, or 400 thousand residents without power.

PG&E has scaled up their power shutdown policy since last year, which now includes the option to shut down major transmission lines, and not just local distribution lines. That more aggressive policy has the potential to leave hundreds of thousands in of northern California customers in the dark for days.

But local lawmakers had tough questions for PG&E.

As Karl Van Amburg reports, the Santa Rosa City Council grilled the utility about how it would help local government provide for citizens in the case of blackouts.