City Will Join Legal Effort To Derail Edison Intentional Blackouts
Written by 991KBU on September 27, 2018
Malibu will file a formal legal objection to the California Public Utility Commission … over its approval of the Southern California Edison plan to black out circuits in strong windstorms.
The Malibu City Council emerged from behind closed doors last night, to vote 4-0-to file a legal objection to the power company’s wind blackouts plan.
Laura Rosenthal abstained.
The city attorney will file a “request for modification” of the CPUC’s decision to allow the power to be turned off during high winds.
A legal challenge has already been filed by a Malibu radio broadcasting company … calling the California Public Utilities Commission action to allow the blackouts illegal.
That action was filed by Zuma Beach FM Emergency and Community Broadcasters, Incorporated … licensee of KBUU-LP.
The city’s action will apparently bolster the radio company’s claim … that the state acted illegally in approving the blackout plan.
One major contention is that the state failed to consider the environmental impact of forcing thousands of California residents to start up gas powered generators … during Santa Ana winds.
The claim also charges that the impact of shutting down traffic lights … electrical water pumps … sewage systems … the internet …. and telephone warning systems had not been mitigated by the power companies.
Southern California Edison has already begun to implement the blackout contingency plans across its service area.
Edison says they expect to turn off the power at various places sytstem-wide … somewhere between 2 and 10 times in a normal year.
The CPUC ruled that the danger of fires from falling power lines in windstorms justifies the blackouts.
Ten percent of the wildfires in California are caused by overhead powerlines catching fire.
The state is acting to protect people from that danger …and to protect the power companies from the liability for damages for possibly causing more fires …. possibly bankrupting them.
Meanwhile … city manager Reva Feldman said last night the city is planning for blackouts this fall.
She is working with Caltrans to try to get power to certain key traffic signals, and working with other entities to obtain fuel to refuel generators at City Hall and wastewater treatment center.
“We’re prepared if this does happen” … Feldman says.
KBUU-LP again acknowledges the conflict of interest inherent in this story.
Our organization has filed a legal challenge to the intentional blackouts plan.
That imposes a strong obligation on KBUU News to report the story accurately and fairly … but the importance of the story makes it impossible for KBUU News to not cover it.
