Photo by Bill Adler

Remember the summer of 2012? You know, the summer when the term “derecho” entered into our vocabularies? The summer when said derecho storms knocked out a lot of power lines, thus leaving a lot of D.C. residents without power during a massive heat wave? Yeah, I try to forget about that as well.

Anyway, after the Summer of the Derecho, Mayor Vince Gray established a task force to come up with ways to put power lines underground, in an effort to prevent city-wide power outages caused by storms and whatnot. The D.C. Power Line Undergrounding Task Force came up with a proposal to do just that and introduced it to the D.C. Council last July, and the plan was approved early last month. On Monday, Gray will sign the bill into law, hopefully putting an end to our derecho-driven power outage nightmares once and for all.

The $1 billion proposal will work with Pepco to bury only the primary power lines; ones that frequently experience outages and connect most residents with power. Secondary lines will remain untouched.