Katherine Blunt
@KatherineBlunt
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@WSJ reporter covering renewables & utilities. Author of California Burning.
San Francisco, CA
Joined January 2012
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Hard to believe California Burning has been on the shelves for a whole year. It has been truly worthwhile — PG&E made it required reading for leaders, and other utilities have, too. This month marked the fourth reprint. Thanks to all who took the time to read it and recommend it!
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Never been more excited to see the UPS truck. What a feeling. It's done, guys!
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Join us next week at Berkeley! As I'm sure many here know, Steve is an expert on California energy issues after many years working for the CPUC. This will be fun!
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Today's the day! California Burning is on the shelves. It's the product of two-and-a-half years of work, and I’m so excited for you to read it. Here's a short preview.
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This is big. After reading my story with
@russellgold
, the judge overseeing PG&E's federal probation has ordered the company to respond, paragraph by paragraph. The company has until Jul 31 to produce a "fresh, forthright statement owning up to the true extent of the WSJ report."
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Judge Alsup, who has overseen PG&E's five-year criminal probation, just filed a characteristically frank letter to docket reflecting on how it went.
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A year and a half ago, I started writing a book about PG&E. I finally finished.
It feels strange to turn in a manuscript when the story is still evolving, but my intent is to explain how and why this company arrived at such a complex challenge. Relevant lessons.
Summer 2022.
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PG&E’s response to the book is gracious and forward-looking. I’m heartened by the fact that it will be required reading internally and I really hope it has value for all those working very hard to reduce wildfire risk. The company has a plan to bury 10k miles of distrib lines.
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It's been ridiculously hot, and yet no real threat of blackouts (at least not yet). Why? New power supplies, and a decent amount of luck.
CA: Strong hydro & so many new battery projects.
TX: Solar capacity has doubled since last summer.
My latest:
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Hawaiian Electric knew since 2019 that wildfire risk was mounting. But it took years to put forth a plan to address it. The focus was on renewables.
Fire cause unknown, but power lines may have played a role. A story chillingly reminiscent of PG&E:
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As if you need incentive to read about how Martin Shkreli is faring in prison (spoiler: just fine). Great story by
@realrobcopeland
and
@bradleyhope
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Renewables edged out coal and nuclear to become the second-most significant source of power in 2020, the EIA said today:
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Utilities are planning to spend at historic levels to shift to renewables and upgrade the grid. The driver is climate change, which is threatening reliability just as we collectively become even more reliant on electricity in response.
My latest:
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Outages are becoming more frequent (and more consequential), and the problem is going to get worse before it gets better. Three major challenges: aging grid, climate change and managing the energy transition.
My latest (part of WSJ wknd energy section!)
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Raising a glass to all who have helped make California Burning a real success. TY to my former colleagues, namely
@russellgold
,
@SmithRebecca
&
@BustilloM
. TY to many former employees, regulators and consultants. And thank you to Energy Twitter, for supporting and promoting! 🙏🏻
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Five years at WSJ! Hard to believe.
When I started, interest in power/utilities was somewhat limited (save for PG&E). Since then, it has exploded. We've got more folks than ever writing about the transition, and my inbox is full of smart questions from readers.
More to come⚡️
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Brookfield Renewable Partners & Cameco are together spending $7.88 billion to buy Westinghouse Electric. It's a big bet that nuclear is here not only to stay, but also to grow alongside renewables as the transition continues. By
@Jennifer_Hiller
via
@WSJ
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So excited to see California Burning in the wild for the first time. Thanks so much,
@browserbooks
!
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I found corporate liability to be one of the most interesting ideas in writing about PG&E. Corporate probation is so rare, and this case did a lot to test its limits. The judge's outlook shows what a challenge it is to quickly reorient a corporation, even with special oversight.
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Some personal news: After two fantastic years at
@HoustonChron
, I'm leaving to cover renewable energy and utilities for
@WSJ
. I feel lucky to have worked with such an incredible group of people at the Chron, and I’m excited to join another very talented team early next month.
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This is exciting. Season 2 of Power Trip: The Story of Energy is on
@PBS
, and the second episode is about disasters. I weigh in on grid-related ones. It airs tonight on TV, I think, and it's available to stream!
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Uh oh. Almost three gigawatts of lost capacity in ERCOT, and it's going to be a hot weekend.
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I usually tweet for energy folks, but today, it's for anyone with children. A thread:
My colleague
@JeffHorwitz
and I have been investigating child-safety issues on Facebook and Instagram. We all know bad actors exist on the internet, but on these platforms, it's more than that.
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Some news: I'm moving to San Francisco. Same great beat, new great city, surrounded by plenty to write about. Very excited!
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It's really a special feeling when the galleys come in. Just a few more months before this hits the shelves on Aug. 30. (Preorder here: )
For now, a short thread on what's inside:
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Today marks four years at WSJ, which feels pretty wild. I'll never forget the exact date -- it was three days before the start of the Camp Fire, and I knew pretty much nothing about utilities. Here's one from back then...and now.
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Renewable energy has boomed in Texas thanks to its wide-open spaces, regulatory permissiveness laissez-faire power market. Now, Republican lawmakers are clamping down.
A story with pretty great lede, gotta say. Latest w/
@Jennifer_Hiller
&
@Phred_Dvorak
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NextEra is making a big bet on hydrogen, likely to the tune of $20B. The company played a key role in shaping the new H2 tax credits and is banking on them to drive growth as wind & solar projects become more challenging. But much is uncertain. My latest:
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A bit of good news during tough times: I’m writing a book! Thrilled for the chance to expand on our PG&E coverage.
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It's not just California. Other regional grid operators--most recently MISO and ERCOT--have warned of electricity supply shortages when demand spikes. A number of states risk rolling blackouts this summer, especially if it's unusually hot.
My latest:
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Patti Poppe staked her legacy at PG&E on a pledge that the company will bury 10,000 miles of power lines.
Now, that plan is in jeopardy as regulators debate significantly restricting the number of lines it can bury in the coming years.
My latest:
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I know there's a lot of wind in West Texas, but there's something about a birds eye view of all the turbines to really see the scope.
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Two of Maryland’s last coal plants, Wagner and Shores, just outside Baltimore. Both are closing. Wagner (left) will soon be home to batteries.
Happy Thanksgiving, energy friends!
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It’s not just a California story. Utilities across the country are confronting new challenges as climate change stresses the grid, and PG&E is hardly the only company to have mismanaged spending and risk. This is a cautionary tale for all: execs, employees, regulators, customers.
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NextEra resisted net zero. Now, it's set to announce “Real Zero,” a plan to cut CO2 without offsets or capture. FPL will transform & wholesale biz will invest in H2.
At FPL alone:
+86 GW solar
+50 GW storage
~16 GW gas gen to H2
An exclusive, from me.
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Power move --
@russellgold
sets up a permanent OOO directing all power queries to me. Then he drops an awesome battery story in absentia. All the super technical questions, right to my inbox. Should've seen it coming!
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Dad, halfway through the movie: “You’re telling me this isn’t about a comet?”
Dad, at the end: “Ah.” (pause) “Well done.”
Good art goes a long way. This
@drvolts
piece is so thoughtful:
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I endeavored to make an electricity playlist, and turns out Kanye dominates this niche category
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Here's the status on Entergy. It's not just the eight transmission lines serving New Orleans. More than 200 lines (2,000+ miles) are out across Louisiana and Mississippi. Damage assessment has just gotten started; a number of towers will need replacement
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Thrilled that our work on PG&E was a Pulitzer finalist for national reporting. Big congrats to an amazing team:
@russellgold
@ailworth
@BustilloM
@SmithRebecca
@iarynam
@silentcarto
@DaveColePhoto
And, big congrats to the very deserving winners at
@propublica
and
@seattletimes
!
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NEW from me and
@russellgold
: The failure last year of a PG&E power line that sparked a wildfire, killed 85 people and destroyed a California town, wasn’t an aberration. The company knew major parts of its network were aging and could fail. via
@WSJ
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Hawaiian Electric didn't have a plan to cut power ahead of dangerous windy conditions. It's not an outlier. Utilities across the West are pushing to draft such plans as wildfire risk increases alongside litigation risk. Expect more outages.
My latest:
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Notable numbers here: PG&E is proposing ~1,600 MW of new storage projects (nine total) to help offset the loss of Diablo Canyon & meet its procurement targets.
These bump its total contracted storage to 3,330 MW by 2024. (Big increase - right now, only ~600 MW are online.)
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California Burning snagged the last spot on the Publisher's Weekly bestsellers list! 🙂 So nice to see it resonating nationally.
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A decade ago, gas displaced coal as America’s top electricity source. Now gas faces disruption by a powerful combination: renewables + batteries
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Wow, Exxon's out. Shutting down production at Sakhalin Island & no further investments in Russia. Big story by
@cmatthews9
and
@jennystrasburg
via
@WSJ
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If John Oliver’s excellent show last night made you want to learn more about PG&E, here’s a book you might like (preorders go a long way!)
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In 2019, PG&E launched a special program to clear its power lines of trees. Cost: ~$2.5B. Trees: ~1.1M.
Now, it says that work did surprisingly little. Analysis shows a 13% reduction in ignitions during fire season. Regulators have questions.
My latest:
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Utility companies are selling off competitive wind & solar projects to help finance record investments in the grid (a projected $159B this year alone). Drivers: electrification, aging assets & climate change.
A holiday special from me &
@Jennifer_Hiller
:
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A secretive, four-year-old startup says it has solved the big puzzle in energy: building an cheap, long-duration battery (less than $20/kwh!)
@russellgold
's last WSJ story is one you want to read.
via
@WSJ
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Sharing early copies of a book is such an anxiety-inducing process, after so many months of working in near solitude. So it means the world to get such positive feedback, all from writers I really respect. Big thanks to
@jmooallem
and
@MichaelEWebber
(friends, buy their books)!
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JUST IN: San Antonio prepares to accept thousands of Houston evacuees after
#harvey
via
@HoustonChron
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Today marks three years at WSJ! Showed up day one knowing next to nothing about the world of electricity. The best part of this job is how much you can learn.
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At long last, Vogtle's first reactor is almost ready. Fuel loading has started, and it could start delivering power this spring. The project is 6 years behind schedule and some $15B over budget. (Curious, has the U.S. ever built a nuke on schedule/budget?)
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A couple of fun Amazon updates today: California Burning is
#1
in energy industry new releases (on Kindle, anyway), and you can read the whole first chapter if you click to look inside!
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Line nearly out the door at
@PinkertonsBBQ
on Airline. Grant has been serving since early am and brought in folks trapped in cars overnight
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The Texas grid operator is in crisis mode. Two million homes are without power during the freeze, with outages expected to last through Tuesday via
@WSJ
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This is interesting. PG&E proposes putting its generating fleet (sans Diablo) into a new subsidiary and selling ~50% of it to raise capital for T&D investment, without affecting rates or diluting share value. (Rates are already high & fire victims' trust holds a lot of shares.)
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A group of developers has a deal for U.S. solar panel manufacturers: Build them, and we'll buy them.
It's a $6 billion offer to buy as much as 7 GW of panels a year. The goal is to give manufacturers a boost against Asian competitors. By
@Phred_Dvorak
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Definitely didn't expect this comparison. If "utility thriller" sounds like an oxymoron, maybe this will change your mind🙂
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The story begins with the Camp Fire, which killed 84 people in November 2018. It started when a hook on a century-old transmission tower broke nearly in half during a windstorm. PG&E faced involuntary manslaughter charges for each of the deaths.
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This Financial Times review of California Burning made my day. I'm flattered by the comparisons. Thanks,
@DaveLeeFT
!
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This is interesting. Vistra commissioned its own study to see where prices in Ercot would have landed during the Texas freeze had the PUCT not locked them at $9k/mwh. Upshot: much lower.
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An incredible honor. Congratulations team!
“HOW PG&E BURNED CALIFORNIA” – BY:
@KATHERINEBLUNT
@RUSSELLGOLD
@SMITHREBECCA
@SILENTCARTO
@IARYNAM
AND
@DAVECOLEPHOTO
FOR –
@WSJ
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Why is Texas freezing? Beyond the weather, a major culprit is the design of the state’s electricity market. My latest with
@russellgold
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In 2010, a gas transmission pipeline explodes in San Bruno, killing eight. Federal investigators determine PG&E had “knowingly and willfully” violated safety laws. There’s a whole chapter on the fascinating 2016 trial, which helps understand what it means to convict a corporation
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Throughout it all, Northern CA becomes much dryer as a result of climate change. PG&E for years resisted acknowledging the extent of the risk. Then, in 2017/2018, its power lines spark nearly 20 major fires, killing more than 100. So begins bankruptcy
#2
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The tower that failed is a fascinating window into PG&E’s long history. The tower was actually built by Great Western Power, the only real competitor PG&E ever had. The two eventually merged in 1930, creating a huge regional monopoly.
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A pedophile network has flourished on Instagram, and the platform doesn’t just host it. Its algorithms have actively promoted it.
My latest with
@jeffhorwitz
(who led this story). Different than my usual work, and more to come. Dark but really important.
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First book event! I’d love to see you there.
On Wednesday, August 31st at 6:00pm PT, join us in person at Book Passage in Corte Madera for a conversation with
@KatherineBlunt
, author of California Burning. This event is free and open to the public. Info and book details here:
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Talk about PG&E long enough and someone will ask why it's still investor-owned. My answer: Change has proven difficult, and it wouldn't solve everything.
Still, it's an interesting conversation, unpacked a bit in this piece about efforts to create co-ops.
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The California grid operator was on the precipice of calling for rolling blackouts Tuesday night. Then, at 5:55, residents received an unprecedented text message asking for conservation. Demand dropped by 2,600 MW. Great story by
@Jennifer_Hiller
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Very honored to have our work on PG&E recognized by
@NatPress
and to share the award with an extremely talented reporting team.
Three Wall Street Journal reporters have won the Thomas L. Stokes Award for Best Energy and Environment Writing for three articles on “How PG&E Burned California.”
Congratulations to winners
@KatherineBlunt
@RussellGold
and Rebecca Smith! Details here:
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What a bittersweet day. The irreplaceable
@russellgold
is leaving for Texas Monthly, after 21 (!) years at the WSJ. I was lucky enough share some bylines.
Russell, you'll be sorely missed. Thanks for making these last few years so fun!
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Stunning PG&E news today: It plans to bury 10k miles of distribution lines. So many of its lines are at risk of sparking on tree contact or otherwise failing. Fires have become all but inevitable.
This could be transformative. But also very challenging.
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Big pipeline news: Dominion Energy and National Grid are each considering selling parts of their gas networks as electrification efforts accelerate.
Team-effort scoop from me,
@LCooperReports
&
@JimmyVielkind
via
@WSJ
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In a PUCT docket, SPP just filed a long report on the February freeze (first time it ever called for load shed).
Gas accounted for most of the generation outages, mostly because of fuel supply issues (even more so than in ERCOT). Prices hit a record $4,275/MWh
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Regarding ERCOT & thermal outages, coal availability is a potentially problematic variable. The latest outage report shows that one plant in particular has been derated pretty frequently over the last couple months for lack of fuel (others have too).
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Today, on A1: Joel Osteen and the making of Lakewood Church, part one of three. No matter how you feel about him, I hope you learn something new.
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I’m honored! The whole list is wonderful — check it out and find your next great read
Congrats to
@KatherineBlunt
,
@portfoliobooks
and
@penguinrandom
for CALIFORNIA BURNING making the
@SABEW
Best in Business Book Awards shortlist.
🔗
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California isn't the only state rushing to add renewables & batteries ahead of plant closures. Hawaii is too, and it's on a much tighter deadline. It's a stressful race -- new solar farms are already facing delays.
Good deep dive by
@JulianSpector
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An investigation of the Camp Fire revealed PG&E had maintained its electric transmission system with “reckless negligence.” There were many parallels to San Bruno. A key issue: pressure to cut costs. PG&E pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charges.
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Today in
@WSJ
(and this weekend's paper), an excerpt from California Burning. It's part of the first chapter, which goes deep on how prosecutors determined that PG&E's role in the deadly Camp Fire was a serious corporate crime. Hope you'll give it a read!
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Today, we wrote about a lawsuit filed against Meta in New Mexico. The state AG set up test accounts appearing to belong to children. Lawsuit alleges the accounts were inundated with explicit photos/messages & sexual propositions.
More reporting to come.
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Big milestone today: California Burning is on sale!
Delivery Aug. 30. Might feel like a tease, but preorders go a long way in the book world. Your patient support would mean a lot!
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The
#USSGabrielleGiffords
commissioning is underway with Giffords, Hillary Clinton, the Bidens and others in attendance
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Happy to say that California Burning is a finalist for a Golden Poppy award through the California Independent Booksellers Alliance!
Your local indy will tag all the finalists with stickers and such, and then ballots go out in January. The whole list looks great!
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PG&E emerges, and a new CEO takes over with a vision to transform the company into a strong financial performer by maximizing profits, in part by cutting expenses. The gas transmission division, in particular, faces pressure to reduce inspection costs.
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Staggering stats in this story. It took 6,579 people and more than $610 million to fight Dixie, the most expensive fire in state history.
Planes that cost more than $1 million a day dropped 21 million gallons of flame retardant.
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This morning, PG&E disclosed that the US Forest Service has opened a criminal probe of the Mosquito Fire after seizing a 60kv transmission pole near the OxBow Reservoir. It's part of a midcentury hydroelectric system with an interesting history:
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This cute devil is my charge for the next three days, and I’m trying to plan the most fun itinerary. So far: Presidio on Saturday, Stinson on Sunday. Where else do the cool dogs hang?
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The U.S. storage market is booming. The story in numbers:
2020: <1 GW
2021: 6 GW
2022: 9 GW
Latest w/
@Jennifer_Hiller
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Today in queue news: MISO received almost exactly twice as many interconnections requests year over year. I figured mostly wind, but no!
Solar: 84 GW
Solar + Storage: 34 GW
Storage: 32 GW
Wind: 14 GW
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Today begins the TX>CA road trip. Happily accepting podcast recs (music too!).
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This is going to be really interesting: a live debate between
@BorensteinS
and
@AhmadFaruqui
about the CPUC's controversial solar net metering proposal.
Registration link:
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Rebecca Smith, who worked at the WSJ for more than 20 years, has died.
She was one of the smartest journalists to cover power & utilities. Many of you have read her work (think CA energy crisis, Enron and PG&E). A thread about a reporter I really admired:
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We first reported that Instagram doesn't just host a network of pedophiles. Its algorithms actively promote it, largely because the system is exceptionally good at tailoring recs for users with niche interests. In this context, it's the darkest of stuff.
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