Who We Are

 

FACT (Fires Aren’t Caused by Trees) is the statewide Coalition for Environmental Protection through Powerline Safety.  We are natural resource conservation advocates with extensive experience in energy policy, land use regulation and wildlife conservation. We’ve researched the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and its policies, regulations and administrative law procedures. As individuals, we’ve filed formal complaints on the docket of the CPUC and been listed as a Party to CPUC Proceedings.

Our group includes a retired National Forest Service firefighting crew leader and public works hazard tree assessment foreman. We have expertise in electrical utility equipment design and function.  Other members have decades of involvement with the California Board of Forestry and CalFire, as well as local and state government elected officials and agencies. Our members have formal associations with several conservation organizations for whom we’ve served as board members and policy leaders.

We’re expanding membership in FACT.  We hope you will ask environmental organizations you’re affiliated with to join, or be open to supporting FACT.  We are uniting NGOs concerned with the untenable environmental, public safety, social justice and financial burdens of PG&E’s delays in comprehensively modernizing its overhead equipment. Undergrounding of utility circuits is effective for wildfire prevention, but it is also very slow to build and hugely expensive. Our major focus is on insulating overhead power lines and the use of advanced circuit protection.  First-class maintenance using modern equipment is the fastest method to reach a fire-safe and cost-efficient electrical supply.  We’ve demanded an end to unmindfully cutting down trees.  Massive expenditures from your utility payments are spent to destroy healthy heritage specimen trees.  This and the harassment of objecting homeowners must stop.

Your involvement could include providing supportive statements, signing onto letters, providing your organizational logo, and/or sharing requests for action with your constituencies.  Most of our recent work involves CA State Legislation, county ordinances and state administrative law regulation.

Let us know about your local concerns with PG&E and the other Investor Owned Utilities. Contact us at info@endpowerlinefires.com,  or call or text (831) 345-1555.   We are able to explain a great deal about these complex problems affecting all of California.

History and Advocacy of FACT

In 2025 we worked with a Southern California coalition to reach Senator Sasha Perez’s staff in the effort to enhance her bill, SB 256, by providing specific language to achieve our goals. We supported SB 254, Senators Josh Becker & Aisha Wahab’s bill. In addition we supported Senator Wahab’s bill, SB 332.  All these bills would have helped reform electrical utility practices to be more environmental, safer, and to give ratepayers relief. It was very close, but only SB 254 has been adopted.  We are working directly with legislators in the effort to reform utility policy for the environment, for public safety, and on behalf of ratepayers.

FACT has been attempting for 8 years to get the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to provide greater safety for the public and to stop unnecessarily cutting millions of healthy trees through participation in Proceedings, rate cases, and complaints. We’ve received dozens of complaints and requests for help from property owners and residents throughout PG&E’s and other IOU service areas. We’ve supported individuals and communities through grassroots meetings, both educating folks about their rights and how to cope with the incessant push by PG&E to cut landowner trees while leaving old dangerous infrastructure in place.  We’ve been active in attending CA Board of Forestry meetings to influence regulations enacted by CalFire.

It is frustrating how PSPS (Public Safety Power Shutoffs) and EPSS (Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings-PG&E terminology) have been continually used to prevent wildfire ignitions. While this is successful in preventing wildfire ignitions, it is also very inconvenient and dangerous for people to lose their power so often when a safer system would make these power outages largely unnecessary.

EPSS is the cause of far more frequent power outages than people realize, with 1,673 EPSS power outages across PG&E’s service territory in the first 8 months of 2025 alone (source PG&E report to the CPUC).  These outages occurred in 35 counties, with 29 outages lasting more than 16 hours each.  

PSPS, at least, is planned with support services provided. However, the far more common EPSS outages shut off power without warning.  These outages affect many thousands of residences, as well as many businesses, hospitals, schools, and water wells.  With modern technology equipped utility circuits, EPSS power outages could be dramatically reduced.

The CA Public Utilities Commission has a well-earned reputation for being a “captured” agency. No technical innovations are ever likely to come from the CPUC.  One need only read the comments from retired Commissioners to reach this conclusion. That said, the CA Legislature has the power to direct the CPUC.  Legislation is essential.  The CA Legislature itself is hardly immune to financial manipulation.  Therefore informed citizen advocacy is crucial.

Please join us. These are problems California will solve.