Wednesday, September 28, 2011

State grounds Sunrise Powerlink helicopters. The California Public Utilities Commission cites eight incidents, calls for safety stand down.

At a December 2010 groundbreaking for the Sunrise Powerlink, this helicopter was on display.
Image from PUC report on June 7 incident

State regulators issued a stop-work order Tuesday against San Diego Gas & Electric’s Sunrise Powerlink transmission line project, saying they were troubled by a continuing pattern of safety risks.

The order, which took effect immediately, grounded all helicopter operations related to the $1.9 billion, 117-mile construction project. The project had been flying an average of 14 to 21 choppers per day.

The order came three days after The Watchdog reported two tail-rotor strikes that went unreported by SDG&E in recent months.

No one was injured in the helicopter mishaps. Regulators at the Public Utilities Commission said they should have been notified.

The order came during a difficult month of aerial operations for the utility. Three times in the past two weeks, equipment was dropped from helicopters as a result of rigging failures, the commission said.

“The pattern of Sunrise Project helicopter incidents is troubling to the CPUC and is of serious concern due to the safety risks such incidents impose on the residents of Imperial and San Diego counties and project personnel,” commission director Julie Fitch wrote to SDG&E.

Flights cannot resume until a series of worker-safety and training conditions are met to the commission’s satisfaction. It is not clear how much time that will take.

Utility President Michael Niggli issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it would comply with the order and work diligently to meet the commission’s demands.

“SDG&E is committed to improving all helicopter and construction practices related to the project and will comply with the additional training and incident reporting requirements contained in the CPUC’s order,” he said.

According to Niggli, company officials informed state officials last week they planned to conduct a “safety stand down” to address the number of incidents.

“We recognize the commission’s concerns about recent incidents involving helicopters working on the project and are resolved to improve and maintain safe construction practices,” he said. “Safety is — and always has been — the company’s top priority in all of our operations.” [Full statement]

Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt said state regulators have done a good job overseeing the Sunrise Powerlink construction, but they may have overreacted Tuesday.

“When you have big industrial projects, it’s inevitable there will be some issues,” he said. “You have to deal with the safety issues and move on.”

Michael Shames of the Utility Consumers’ Action Network said the stop-work demand reflects the new personality of the state commission, a five-member panel appointed by the governor.

“This is a shot across the bow. This is a wake-up call,” Shames said. “The utility now knows the regulators are going to be more aggressive in protecting the public interest.”

The Sunrise Powerlink will be a network of more than 440 steel-lattice towers stretching across Imperial and San Diego counties. SDG&E says construction is 40 percent completed.

Construction of the power line is heavily reliant on helicopters, with 75 percent of the overhead portion being built with copters.

The commission’s order was met with praise by opponents of the project.

“We’re very pleased to see that the CPUC has stepped up to the plate and called SDG&E out on its unsafe shortcutting of environmental and public-safety standards,” said attorney Stephan Volker, who represents several citizens groups fighting in court to stop the transmission line. “It’s a long time coming.”

Lisa Wood lives on just under two acres in El Monte Valley, where she raises horses. She said the helicopter traffic frightens her animals and other riders.

“It’s been like living in Saigon during the evacuations,” said Wood, who was relieved to hear the copters were temporarily grounded. “The helicopter noise during the day is almost constant. It puts the horses on edge; it puts the riders on edge.”

Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who sent a letter to utilities commissioners Monday in response to The Watchdog’s weekend report, said Tuesday that the regulators did the right thing.

“I commend the CPUC for putting public safety first and grounding helicopter operations for this dangerous, fire-inducing monstrosity,” she said in a statement. “The CPUC must hold SDG&E accountable for its reckless antics and flagrant disregard for CPUC rules.”

The Watchdog reported Saturday that the rotor of an SDG&E-contracted helicopter struck a boulder during construction operations Feb. 12. The Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation but the utility did not report the accident to state regulators.

On Aug. 23, the rotor of another helicopter struck a fence post — an accident that similarly injured no one and was not reported to the state.

The February case resulted in a 100-day license suspension for the pilot, and the August incident remains under investigation.

In its order to SDG&E, state officials for the first time attributed the August mishap to “pilot error.” The letter cites eight incidents that led to the order, including the rotor strikes.

In June, a mechanical failure caused a sky crane to drop a 16,000-pound piece of a tower from 200 feet above the Imperial County desert. No one was injured.

Three days later, another mechanical failure caused a second slip, although the crane in that case was able to lower the equipment to the ground safely.

Another helicopter dropped an air compressor on Aug. 4, causing no injuries but spilling up to 60 gallons of diesel fuel. There also were the three separate rig failures since last Monday.

Not referenced in the commission letter was an incident in March, when an SDG&E contract helicopter pilot violated restrictions by flying into nesting areas for golden eagles three separate times.

http://www.signonsandiego.com

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