Please click on this link to The Hill where my opinion piece entitled "Stamping Out Wildfires Requires Invisible Infrastructure" ran on April 16, 2019. Below is an excerpt of some of the key recommendations I made to ensure energy utilities, first responders, and counties have reliable and secure communications networks which underlie effective technologies to prevent and spot wildfires quickly.
"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently taken a major step with a proposed rule to repurpose the 900 MHz spectrum band for [wildfire prevention] uses . . . by utility and enterprise private networks. This broadband spectrum is the ideal workhorse of the invisible infrastructure underlying utility applications of all types, not only for protection of critical infrastructure from hacking, but also for smart grid systems and other 21st century applications.
While utility ratepayers are one source of funding, other funding sources for fire cameras, weather sensors and the underlying communications systems could come from fire authorities, emergency services agencies, forest services as well as cap and trade funds related to climate change initiatives.
Given the rash of wildfires, new utility wildfire mitigation plans and funding for advanced technologies and communications systems must be handled more quickly by public utility commissions (PUCs). Utilities must understand the proof points they need to outline in their proposals to PUCs for regulatory approval of such large infrastructure projects. PUCs must understand the benefits and costs of advanced technologies proposed in wildfire mitigation.
The federal government should also continue in its leadership and guidance in increasing the reliability of our energy infrastructure."
