THOSE DAMN KALI IDIOTS ARE AT IT AGAIN...

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - THOSE DAMN KALI IDIOTS ARE AT IT AGAIN...

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:07:20 AM EDT

www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/10902681p-11820245c.html

Power to the people

PG&E crews to help Florida rebuild

By Deb Kollars -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Crews from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will head to Florida this morning to help restore power to a state left battered, numb and shorthanded by four hurricanes in a row.
The latest, Hurricane Jeanne, hit over the weekend as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching 120 mph. As of Monday evening, 890,000 people still were without power in eastern and central Florida.

"We've had concrete poles that snapped like twigs," said Florida Power & Light Co. spokesman Bill Swank. "With this storm, we're having to reach far and wide for help. We've asked every state in the nation and Canada for help."

PG&E is sending 24 construction crews, consisting of about 130 people. Other Western power companies also are answering the SOS. Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

The PG&E crews were told to prepare for three to four weeks of working 16-hour days in a state where high humidity goes hand in hand with high temperatures, and where the native fauna includes snakes and alligators.

On Monday afternoon and evening, the crews began pulling into a central staging point at a PG&E yard in Davis. With hard hats, orange vests and willing hearts, they came from as far south as Bakersfield and as far north as Redding.

Their signature blue trucks were checked in preparation for their eastward journey this morning. The vehicles will be loaded onto larger trucks, while the crews will go by air.

"When something like this happens, you're always glad to go and help," said Mickey Willey, a PG&E crew foreman. He will leave behind a wife and two sons.

The family is used to Willey being whisked away to rescue power lines. About a week ago, he was suddenly summoned to spend the night replacing transformers blown out by lightning during a freak storm in Sacramento.

"That's the norm for us," Willey said. "If people are out of power, you can't tell them to wait until tomorrow."

PG&E spokeswoman Jann Taber said Monday that the utility chose the crews from across its vast territory, making sure that no single area in California would be short of staffing. If a storm or other emergency were to hit here, PG&E would still have adequate staffing, Taber said.

Utility companies have a long history of helping each other in crises. During hurricane season, Florida and other Southeastern states routinely assist one another in emergencies.

PG&E crews traveled to Southern California last fall to help rebuild power lines downed by fires, and to the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1992 after a hurricane.

It is unusual for utility companies to haul their massive trucks and gear across an entire continent. But Florida has been through an unprecedented round of hostile weather as four hurricanes hit within six weeks.

First came Charley, barreling ashore on Florida's Gulf Coast. Then came Frances, a storm as wide as Texas that lumbered slowly and pounded the state from the Atlantic shoreline to the Panhandle. Ivan followed, nailing the western Panhandle.

Late Saturday night, Jeanne hit in the same place as Frances. MORE AT LINK...

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:11:30 AM EDT

[#1]

That's awfully nice of CA, but 3 months from now they will still be wondering why the have a budget crisis.

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:12:36 AM EDT

[#2]

Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:13:25 AM EDT

[#3]

stupid morons spending my tax money.

wtf is wrong with these people? do they think they're Americans helping fellow Americans or something?

I'd go in a second...

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:14:04 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
That's awfully nice of CA, but 3 months from now they will still be wondering why the have a budget crisis.

True, but it would help if we didn't send so many of our tax dollar to other staes to keep helping them out.

SGatr15

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:26:13 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

Apparently, all you Californians missed this part while vigorously patting yourselves on the back.

My dad worked for Pennsylvania Power and Light company for over thirty years. He probably traveled to at least 15 different states doing storm damage repair. All the utility companies in the US (and Canada) help each other out this way.

It's nice that some Cali utility workers will be helping out in Florida. Just don't make too much of it.

Posted: 9/28/2004 6:31:04 AM EDT

[#6]

You can always count on a Commiefornian to complain about something. That is before they to ban it.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:28:13 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

To include backfilling the positions of the Florida bound workers with overtime? To include per diem for wear and tear on the vehicles and equipment?

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:32:45 AM EDT

[#8]

This is a common practice, and the tab is picked up by the grid owner. After Isabel, we saw many different linemen from all over. The most distant ones were from Houston and from Quebec. These guys will be working their asses off, but their kids will have a WONDERFUL christmas.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:34:48 AM EDT

[#9]

We'll trade you FL guys all the PG&E people we can muster in exchange for Jeb talking Arnie into suspending the Kali-ban for a week or two.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:36:30 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
This is a common practice, and the tab is picked up by the grid owner. After Isabel, we saw many different linemen from all over. The most distant ones were from Houston and from Quebec. These guys will be working their asses off, but their kids will have a WONDERFUL christmas.

yes you are correct, lineman from all over the country are being sent to florida right now to fix everything, and they are making some good money

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:36:50 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

To include backfilling the positions of the Florida bound workers with overtime? To include per diem for wear and tear on the vehicles and equipment?

Read the damn artical no areas in cali are going to be short staffed

PG&E spokeswoman Jann Taber said Monday that the utility chose the crews from across its vast territory, making sure that no single area in California would be short of staffing. If a storm or other emergency were to hit here, PG&E would still have adequate staffing, Taber said.

Now stop yer damn bitching about this and start bitching to that asshat RINO gov. you got about wasting tax payer money to pay for a registration of rifles that have never been used in a crime in the state. There are other things worth bitching about. This ain;t one of them.

Posted: 9/28/2004 2:10:28 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

To include backfilling the positions of the Florida bound workers with overtime? To include per diem for wear and tear on the vehicles and equipment?

Read the damn artical no areas in cali are going to be short staffed

Who said anything about short staffed. If Jim goes to Florida, someone has to work Jim's shift in California on overtime. Are California utility customers paying for Jims replacement, at time and a half, or are Florida utility customers. The article does not address that issue.

Posted: 9/28/2004 2:46:51 PM EDT

[#13]

Why can we send Steve Peace to Florida instead??????? uh??????

Posted: 9/29/2004 4:20:48 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

To include backfilling the positions of the Florida bound workers with overtime? To include per diem for wear and tear on the vehicles and equipment?

Read the damn artical no areas in cali are going to be short staffed

Who said anything about short staffed. If Jim goes to Florida, someone has to work Jim's shift in California on overtime. Are California utility customers paying for Jims replacement, at time and a half, or are Florida utility customers. The article does not address that issue.

Short staffed= overtime

Not short staffed = no OT

Get the fuck over it and start focusing on MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS.

Posted: 9/29/2004 4:27:43 AM EDT

[#15]

The next time you have a violent earthquake out here (I sincerely hope it never happens) and thousands are left in the dark, we'll remember you said that. This is standard practice among power companies. A good friend of mine from high school was a lineman. He made so much in overtime that he retired early. I'm not complaining. He earned every dime of it. I wouldn't do that job on a bet.

Posted: 9/29/2004 4:31:07 AM EDT

[#16]

So.........PG&E is a Taxpayer owned State of California Organization that is under Civil Service rules and regulations?Or.......is it a Private Corporation,State and Federally regulated Monoply like most power companies?

Posted: 9/29/2004 12:33:32 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Florida is picking up the cost.

Florida Power & Light, a huge utility serving half the state, will pick up all costs, including transportation, hotels, meals and labor.

To include backfilling the positions of the Florida bound workers with overtime? To include per diem for wear and tear on the vehicles and equipment?

Read the damn artical no areas in cali are going to be short staffed

Who said anything about short staffed. If Jim goes to Florida, someone has to work Jim's shift in California on overtime. Are California utility customers paying for Jims replacement, at time and a half, or are Florida utility customers. The article does not address that issue.

Short staffed= overtime

Not short staffed = no OT .

BS.

So PG&E just has a surplus of workers on the payrolls? Those guys have jobs to do here every day. Jobs that will have to be done by someone else, at time and a half, while they are gone. Cali already has the highest electric rates in the nation, shit like this doesnt help.

If PG&E has suplus workers who can go to Florida with no need to backfill their positions, then those positions should be eliminated and the cost savings passsed on to consumers.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - THOSE DAMN KALI IDIOTS ARE AT IT AGAIN...

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