CS4B - Concurrent Session 04B: Beyond Emergency Action Plans: Leveraging Regulatory Requirements to Develop a Collaborative and Cross-Functional Hydroelectric Emergency Management Program

In 2017, following the Oroville Dam Spillway Failure, California’s Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 92 (SB 92), which established new dam safety requirements, into law. This legislation requires that dam owners of Significant, High, or Extremely High Hazard Dams (as classified by the California Department of Water Resources Division of Safety of Dams, DWR DSOD) receive approval of all inundation maps by DWR DSOD and then submit Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for approval.

Cal OES’ additional requirements for EAP compliance compelled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated dam owners to collectively rewrite their federally approved EAPs to meet state compliance—a significant task, but not one without its benefits, as Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) discovered. These new state requirements mandate not only a collaborate development process between dam owners and impacted jurisdictions, but, for PG&E, they served to jumpstart a cross-functional collaboration between previously siloed divisions within its own organization.

During this presentation, PG&E will discuss how SB 92 strengthened its EAP program by not just the redevelopment of its documents, but by also better integrating the program into PG&E’s other electric and gas emergency programs. Additionally, this presentation will discuss how the Cal OES’ compliant revised EAPs facilitated a faster and more coordinated response between PG&E and its emergency management agency partners during the series of atmospheric river storms that struck California in January of 2023. Finally, actionable tips for cross-functional collaboration will be provided to help other dam owners reimagine their own EAP programs. Through processes like these, regulations can be leveraged by dam owners everywhere to streamline stakeholder outreach, strengthen internal relationships, and better serve the communities surrounding our hydroelectric facilities.