This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the Wednesday edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting. 

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from Rancho del Cielo.

For 8 years … Rancho del Cielo has been a partner to public radio in the Malibu.

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Water Line Replacement Today, County Restricts Water Use After 2pm

Today’s the day.

Malibu is getting a portion of its 70 year old water supply replaced.

It will take construction crews all night to chop into the existing pipeline … and switch over to a new stretch of pipeline.

The only major pipeline serving Malibu will be unable to deliver water for as long as 24 hours.

Residents are being directed … that’s the official term .. directed not to use water for anything other than drinking and sanitation.

2 pm today until 2 pm tomorrow.

Also today and tomorrow … one westbound lane of PCH will be taken away at the Chautauqua signals, 

Expect a mammoth traffic jam.

Use Sunset or the 101 to get around it … or reschedule your trip.

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SCE Will Block PCH Lanes, Replace Power Pole Near Malibu Seafood Thursday Night

In an unrelated PCH issue … Caltrans has issued a permit to Southern California Edison … to relocate overhead power lines at 26025 Pacific Coast Highway.

This is at Corral Beach … across from the RV Park.

The California Highway Patrol will provide intermittent lane closures from 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, to 4 a.m. Friday.

The Caltrans press release advises motorists to seek alternate routes … but in reality … better to just wait a few minutes for the CHP to wave you through. 

Residents may experience noise, vibrations and dust … plus bright lights.

Caltrans reminds drivers to “Be Work Zone Alert” and to “Slow for the Cone Zone.”

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Support for KBUU radio comes from Saguaro Technology.

Based in Malibu … Saguaro Technology offers software development and other engineering services across the entire product life cycle… and across several industries.

Life sciences, automation, robotics.

Saguaro Technology engineers work side-by-side with the client to extend engineering teams… to create and launch products faster… and more cost effectively.

Saguaro Technology can be reached at saguarotech.net

Thanksgiving Butterfly Census in California: 335,479

The good news … monarch butterflies are making a dramatic comeback in California.

The bad news … not in our part of California.

The annual count of monarch butterflies is up statewide for a second year.

This year’s annual hanksgiving Count showed more than 335,479 butterflies.

Two years ago .. only 2000 butterflies were counted.

Statewide.

But the number of monarchs in Ventura County dropped by half.

No similar breakout for LA County was available. 

The Central Coast and the Bay Area had increases this year.

A conservation biologist at the Xerces Society called the overall numbers a good sign of a second chance to save the western migration of monarch butterflies.

Thirty years ago ,.. estimates put the state’s winter population in the millions. 

But the population plummeted by more than 99%.

Scientists blamed habitat loss and degradation, pesticide use and the changing climate.

The current population of 335,479 butterflies in California is still down over 90% from those historic norms.”

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Brewing Company.

Malibu Brewing Company is a locally owned craft brewery, proudly supporting our community, and local public radio.

Just released – Second Point, a double IPA overflowing with citrus and stonefruit flavor, balanced with mild bitterness. 

Grab a bite from our chef prepared menu, and enjoy this limited release and a wide selection of our premium craft beers on our patio, or inside at a comfortable table.

Malibu Brewing Company, Malibu California.

 

Malibu High Construction Contract Steps Over $101 Million, But No Date For Construction

The prices for the Malibu High School building project will officially cross the 100 million dollar mark tomorrow.

That’s when the school board will consider a scheduled contract change … to bring the price up to 101.4 million dollars.

Increased insurance prices … plus the installation of book lockers … will drive up the price.

As we reported yesterday … the entire project is mired in red tape at Malibu City Hall and the California Coastal Commission.

School officials say the city hall has repeatedly demanded additional studies and data from the district’s architects.

And that city hall bungled the transmission of the finished design to the state Coastal Commission.
Delay after delay … and the proposal is still stuck at coastal.

As we noted yesterday … tt is possible that the school district supplied incomplete information in the first place.

The delay after delay is costing district taxpayers about one million dollars per month in diminished construction costs … Upton says.

The Santa Monica school board will hold a public session on the delays … tomorrow night at 5:30.

And a reminder … that meeting will not be on the Zoom computer … in person comments only.

It will be at the district headquarters at 16th and Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica.

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Support for Radio Malibu KBUU comes from the Mark and Grether Real Estate Group.

Combining the talents of Tony Mark and Russell Grether…

The Mark and Grether Group offers concierge-level service… personalized attention… to buyers and sellers… landlords and tenants … here in Malibu.

The Mark and Grether Group… a top producing team with 35 years of experience… and over $1 billion worth of real estate sold in least… from Malibu’s coastline to the canyons.

 

Nat Gas Costs Will “Drop”, But Only To A Level 30% Higher Than Last Year

Natural gas prices shot up dramatically just as cold weather arrived.

But now … they are about to drop dramatically,

Just not all the way.

Methane prices … methane is the petrochemical marketed as natural gas … methane prices shot up 142 percent in December.

The Gas Company of Southern California blames a 300 percent increase in the price it pays.

Cold weather on the West Coast … plus reduced interstate pipeline capacity to the West Coast due to pipeline maintenance activities in West Texas.

Funny how that pipeline maintenance in West Texas has to happen during the peak demand period.

The Gas Company of Southern California does not blame increased prices charged by its sister company … Sempra Energy.

The Gas Company of Southern California is the state regulated utility owned by Sempra … which also just happens to own an unregulated natural gas trading company.

In one pocket … out the other … claim consumer watchdogs.

There has been a drop in the wholesale price for methane … but even after the price drop … prices will still be about 30 percent higher than this time last year.

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing on pipeline gas rates next Tuesday.

Expect it to be another dog and pony show … lots of charts and graphs … and no real examination of how the system is failing.

A regulated utility’s unregulated sister company is making a killing … while Southern California Gas Company customers pay the price. 

Semipro Energy’s revenue was 14 billion dollars … up 20% in the third quarter … year-over-year. 

For its part .… Sempra last month chipped in an additional 1 million dollars to its gas assistance fund … a program that helps income-qualified customers pay off their natural gas bills.

In essence … Sempra is writing off .007 percent of its annual revenue to help the poor.

Meanwhile … the vast majority of Gas Company customers will pay their bills … which have gone from an average of 130 dollars to 315 dollars per winter month.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from Sea N Soul Surf, at Zuma Beach Plaza

A coffee barista … the locals’ place to find entry level surfboards for a grom … or a handshaped blade for a pro. 

Sea N Soul Surf… clothing, coffee and boards for the Malibu lifestyle … under Spruzzo’s …across from Zuma Beach.

 

State Will Take A Poll About Taking A Survey About Maybe Doing Something To Clean Up Santa Susanna Field Lab Mess

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory site is the chemically-contaminated piece of land 20 miles north of Malibu … near the headwaters of Malibu Creek,.

It’s been controversial for decades.

Santa Susana has been used as a nuclear test site … a rocket engine test site … all sorts of Cold War era chemical work.

The mountaintop site is now owned by Boeing … and there is supposed to eb a cleanup.

Now … the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is taking baby steps to taking a  community survey about cleanup of the site. 

The survey itself isn’t meant to gather comments on cleanup progress. Rather, the responses will be used to craft a public engagement plan for an upcoming comment period.

Officials will then use the engagement plan to collect public comments, likely starting in late 2023, on the draft cleanup plan.

The survey asks for a respondent’s interest level in the project, their ranking of cleanup priorities, possible community workshop subjects and how people keep tabs on the project. It also allows respondents to provide their contact information to speak directly with DTSC officials.

Only 60 people have heard about the survey … and responded.

The deadline to respond is Feb. 10.

Once again … the issue of aerial fireworks over ocean water is being challenged in court.

This time .. environmentalists are targeting a Fourth of July show put on every year by a restaurant owner in Long Beach.

The lawsuit says hundreds of-pounds of fireworks debris land in the water. 

Waste like chlorine, cesium, copper, magnesium, nitrates, perchlorates, phosphorus …
The list goes on.

The suit also says “many of the enumerated pollutants are particularly harmful to aquatic wildlife and humans alike.”

The restaurant owner says he has pulled all the proper county and state permits.

But he hasn’t pulled a federal water pollution permit … and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation says federal law requires that.

A ruling in this case could impact fireworks shows where fireworks are exploded over the water all over the region.

High-profile shows at Sea World in San Diego.

Patriotic displays up and down the coast … including Malibu. 

The two-day hearing ends today.

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Snow Survey Will Be Today, But Drought May Return

Today is February First … the day every year when Californians are used to getting very bad news.

February First is the annual snow survey day … the day every year that state officials trudge out into a meadow near a South Lake Tahoe ski resort with TV cameras in tow. 

This year … not bad news.

The snow pack looks to be at least twice the average normal size.

Biggest snowpack in 28 years. 

At Mammoth Mountain … the snowpack is nearly 20 feet deep.

And up comes a big fat warning.

A warm pacific rainstorm … not unusual … could melt that snow … quickly overloading dams … overtopping levees … and causing catastrophic flooding.

That’s what happened in 1997. 

Several warm “Pineapple Express” storms drenched the Sierra … Yosemite Valley experienced its worst floods in a century. 

Big reservoirs filled to the top and released water uncontrollably. 

Levees broke, causing major flooding in Marysville, Yuba City and other communities. 

When it was over, 48 of California’s 58 counties were declared disaster areas and damage totaled $1.8 billion.

Malibu gets most of its water from two northern California lakes.

Lake Shasta is filling … but is still only 87% of its historic average for that date. 

The second largest, Lake Oroville, is 112% of its historic average.

State engineers are checking the brand new flood chute there … the one that shook itself to pieces a few years ago.

Dam operators in recent weeks have been increasing water releases from some reservoirs to make room.

It’s a delicate balancing act . Save enough for farms, cities and fish.

Release enough to make room to avert potential floods.

Malibu gets most of its water from up north.

But its a complicated equation … and the diminished flows form the Colorado River wilklk affect 

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

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You can hear the news live every morning until 9:30 on KBUU.

FM 99.1 in western Malibu.  Also: streaming at www.radiomalibu.net

Between 10 and 2 … you can hear the newscast playback loop on KBU2. That’s on FM 99.1 HD2 in your car, or streaming at s7.viastreaming.net/6500

If humanly possible, the KBUU NewsScript is usually published at around midday at www.radiomalibu.net