KBUU NewsScript Tue Nov 23 – SCE Power May Be Cut on Thanksgiving Near Paradise Cove – 50 MOPH Wind Gusts Coming

=.  If you live near Paradise Cove and need electricity to cook … make alternate Thanksgiving plans. 

=.  Winds up to 55 might trigger more intentional blackouts from Southern California Edison.

=.  Edison says it has reduced intentional power outages 93 percent.  Try cooking your turkey on that promise. 

=. Santa Monica’s mayor says she favors keeping Malibu in a state assembly district dominated by Malibu.

=. Read between the lines … and it’s better to control the narrative over school district separation that way.

=. Space Force will launch an asteroid blaster tonight … Malibu might get to see it.

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Another notice from Southern California Edison …. that our electric power may again be cut off on the Cuthbert Circuit.

This … after 22 hundred 92 houses lost power during a moderate Santa Ana wind blow on Sunday.

Most houses got a four hour blackout Sunday afternoon …. as winds peaked at 51 miles per hour.

But the outage was not restored to several hundred customers for much longer. 

Houses in Ramirez Canyon and off Winding Way West … Murphy Way and Winding Way were in the dark for more than 24 hours.

It took Edison most of the day yesterday to patrol its lines … check for any damage … and re-energize all the customers lines.

And that same general area is targeted for another intentional blackout tomorrow … as a Santa Ana windstorm is predicted to arrive.

This one will not quite be a strong as the winds we had Sunday. 

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Outrage is growing over the inability of Southern California Edison to keep Malibu power running when it gets moderately windy.

The company has a policy of turning off power in the Paradise Cove area … what it calls the Cuthbert Circuit … when sustained winds go above about 30 miles an hour … and when local conditions are judged by company officials to be too risky.

Edison has sent out a letter to its customers in the affected area.

They say they have done all sorts of improvements to Cuthbert’s overhead wires …. 

New poles.

New cables … covered with plastic … to insulate them rom slapping against each other … or sparking flying palm fronds or branches.

New fuses.

Sats Edison … and we quote … the expedited grid enhancement to strengthen the electrical grid in your area have been completed.

Edison says that its improvements should cut the amount of time of intentional blackouts by 93% over last year.

Last March … KBUU discovered that the company was blacking out Cuthbert if there were predictions of sustained winds of 28 miles per hour or more.

It appears that 28 miles an hour is still the threshold for an intentional blackout.  

If there is any improvement … it may be that Edison is restoring the power faster to most … but not all … of Cuthbert.

But some areas are still experiencing days long outages in moderate winds. 

The number of false alarms that have been going out seems to have decreased.

But what do you tell a family that is planning a Thanksgiving gathering … only to get notice from Edison that the power may be shut off starting Wednesday night?

What do you tell the sheriffs deputy who literally put her life on the line to direct traffic at an intersection where the blacked out traffic signals saw cars whistling through at 55 miles an hour?

What do you tell the room full of people who had a city council meeting canceled because of the blackout?

Edison asks that we ask the company for comment before we do a story like this … but we can’t get an answer from the company in the middle of the night … as warnings of blackouts go out around the clock.

We will try again to ask Edison today … if all of its improvements have been completed … and blackouts are being reduced 93% … why can’t keep the lights on at Paradise Cove?

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Because power had not been hooked up to all of Malibu by late yesterday afternoon… last night’s Malibu City Council meeting was called off.

It has been rescheduled to Tuesday of next week.

If you were waiting to see what the city is going to do about several key matters of business… Well this is the second time that an important meeting has been delayed a week because of Edison’s technical problems over at the Cuthbert circuit.

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The Malibu area is set to see another round of Santa Anas starting tomorrow night. 

This is an 8 millibar storm … the pressure difference between inland areas and the coast will be 8 millibars. 

That’s pretty steep … enough to give 45 to 55 mph wind gusts to parts of Malibu.

The windiest ridgetops will see 60 mile per hour gusts. 

Santa Anas will arrive tomorrow morning … and get stronger in the afternoon …  

Southern California Edison is warning that Cuthbert may get intentionally blacked out between noon tomorrow and midnight.

The national Weather Service says the strongest winds will be Thanksgiving morning. 

Santa Anas will likely fall off in the afternoon Thanksgiving Day.

Will the electric ovens have power for cooking???
Stay tuned.

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A new president for the California Public Utilities Commission has just been picked but he governor. 

Gavin Newsom has picked his office’s energy policy expert to be the next leader of the state agency that regulates Southern California Edison and other big power companies.

Alice Reynolds had been Newsom’s senior advisor for energy since 2019.

There has been a revolving door at the CPUC president’s office … as the agency has been focussed primarily on PG and E … the Northern California utility that has killed 88 people and is on criminal probation for its lackadaisical safety record.

Southern California Edison has not been in the headlines … like P G and E. 

Newsom said Reynolds has been “indispensable in our work to move California toward a cleaner, affordable and reliable energy future.” 

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You are listening to KBUU … Malibu’s Only Local Daily News

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Santa Monica officials are not happy with proposed redistricting maps that might place Malibu and Santa Monica in different state assembly districts.

And they are also unhappy with congressional redistricting changes that would shift both cities into a congressional district centered on the San Fernando Valley.

This would shift Malibu from the Ted Lieu District to the Brad Sherman district.

Santa Monica politicians don’t like that idea.

What’s worse …. Mayor Sue Himmelrich says the proposed Senate map keeps Malibu and Santa Monica in the same District.

That’s good … she says.

But the proposed Assembly map once again puts Malibu and Santa Monica is separate Assemble Districts.

Himmelrich tells the Santa Monica Lookout newspaper that … quote … “some people are hoping Santa Monica and Malibu stay together.

One might infer … that Santa Monica’s mayor does not want a state assembly member who might favor an independent Malibu school district.

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What is happening to the Malibu Inn … those plans for a multi-story hotel next door to the historic road house???

After being delayed for several weeks … the proposed Aviator Nation people finally go before the Planning Commission next week.

The hotel is proposed to terrace upon the hill … next to the Malibu Inn and just west of the Jack In The Box. 

Story poles have been a major controversy at the Planning Commission. 

Story poles are the red ribbons and wooden poles that are required to show the visual impact of the proposed multistory hotel.

The story poles that were put up did not show retaining walls that would be carved into the hillside behind the proposed hotel. 

Those have bene added now. 

The landowner proposes to permanently close the back room of the old restaurant … back with a pool table used to be.

This would cut the amount of required parking… And make away for the hotel next-door.

Malibu may get a real sky show tonight … at 10:20.

SpaceX is going to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base … tonight.

The launch pad is 100 miles up the coast from Malibu … and unless there is a real thick cloud deck … the rocket launch should be visible from here.

In fact … if it’s very quiet … you might hear the rocket roar. 

And we might see the booster … in the moonlight … as it turns its thrusters on to navigate back to earth.

As for the mission … it is a real Space Force experiment .

The Falcon 9 will be carrying NASA’s first planetary defense test.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test satellite is designed to smash directly into an asteroid at a speed of about 15,000 mph.

Actually … its target is an asteroid that is orbiting a larger asteroid.

Smashing the small orbiting object is expected to alter the orbit of the larger asteroid.

NASA is testing to see if the spacecraft could divert a possible asteroid collision with Earth.

This particular asteroid system was chosen because it poses no threat to the Earth.

That’s a relief.

Again … the Space Force launch is at 10 20 tonight. 

The Malibu area weather forecast is dim … however … as coastal clouds and fog are forecast for this evening. 

This one will be worth driving up the hill … above the clouds … to watch.

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