SEATTLE — They are both the beauty and the curse of the Pacific Northwest: statuesque trees that came down on power lines during strong storms on Tuesday, leaving thousands in the dark for a day.
It's lights, cameras, but very little customer action at Kenmore Camera.
Owner Bob Donovan would like to see a solution.
"Love to see the lines buried," he said. "I think it's really going to be a matter of time before they all are."
Larry Weis says the problem is money. He is nominated by the mayor to be the next CEO of Seattle City Light. Weis says the density of Seattle presents a challenge and the cost of underground lines is astronomical.
"It's 10 times [more expensive], maybe more sometimes." said Weis.
While lines are protected from the wind, ice and tree damage, they are more vulnerable to flooding and digging underground.
"Nine out of the 10 fiber optic accidents are because people dig them up," said Weis.
Newer neighborhoods in Kenmore are burying their power lines as customers at a nearby Safeway relied on flashlights to search for food. It's a problem business owners would like to bury once and for all.
"Trees coming down," Kenmore Camera's Bob Donovan said. "We hear transformers going. It is just kind of business as usual."
Larry Weis says there is a balance between cost and inconvenience.
"The number of outages that are measured on the system really do not justify putting transmission underground for that protection, but it can in the distribution side."
Anaheim, California decided to bury its power lines. It will take 50 years to finish and a 4% surcharge will be tacked onto customers' bills.
KIRO
