Rocky Mountain Power
Dick Garlish is President of Rocky Mountain Power. Paul Kjellander is PUF Senior Advisor and former Idaho PUC Chair.
Catastrophic wildfires are devastating to people, biodiversity, and ecosystems as they blaze a path of destruction. Unfortunately, they are growing in size and numbers, raising calls to do something, anything, to help prevent and control the carnage.
Utility leaders and staff, as well as regulators, increasingly are looking for ways to help, whether via technology, regulation, and more. There has been some improvement in methods to tame the catastrophic wildfire beast, and even to prevent them in the first place.
The issues are many, and Public Utilities Fortnightly's Paul Kjellander looked to three leaders in the Pacific Northwest to find out more about the latest impacts and solutions to catastrophic wildfires. Here, he speaks with Rocky Mountain Power President Dick Garlish.
PUF's Paul Kjellander: How has the threat and impact of wildfire risk impacted your utility model, and how disruptive has catastrophic wildfire risk become?