Bury the utility lines

Why not make the effort to place electric utilities underground? Maybe it will require 20 or 30, or even 40 years. But had we commenced the effort after the 1996 ice storm, we might be halfway through the project by now. By my calculation, that’s 90,000 people who might not have lost power over the last couple of weeks.

I hear the excuse that it is because of the basalt. Sounds like a bit of baloney to me. Our gas lines, water and sewer are underground, are they not? Municipal jurisdictions plan ahead for street repairs and renovations. Our power companies could well be parties to that, if they’re not already, in a concerted effort to solve a difficult problem over an extended period of time.

It’s problematic to estimate the cost of this outage to affected families and businesses. But I’d guess that it totals a great deal more than the few dollars per month the average consumer would need to pay to commence a resolution. And then even those dedicated Avista crews, and others, that worked nearly around the clock could have their holidays with their families instead of their crew mates.

So ask yourself: Why not?

Don Endresen

Spokane Valley