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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 Controversy rages over placing power lines underground Barbara Venezia In the mid-1990s my cooking segment on ABC's "Home Show" followed a feature on the dangers of electromagnetic fields coming from utility poles. The reporter focused on communities across the country where folks were questioning cancer clusters in children where power lines were close to playgrounds and backyards. When I got home I looked at the power poles lining my street, some had high intensity transformers buzzing away. So armed with a bit of research and the fact the poles were smack dab in the center of the equestrian trails, a group of neighbors and I visited our supervisor, Tom Wilson. We discovered the Santa Ana Heights Redevelopment Agency had funds that could be used to underground the utility poles along Cypress Street and Mesa Drive. That was in 1995. It took Supervisor Moorlach and his Chief of Staff Mario Mainero to finally move the project forward, breaking ground this summer. The good news is the $7.5 million cost is covered by the Santa Ana Heights RDA, not the city or residents (though homeowners still have to pay for the private hookups to their homes). The bad news, the estimated cost in 2000 was $2.5 million. Undergrounding isn't a simple process, even under the best of circumstances. The average time frame from concept to groundbreaking is 10 to 15 years. Balboa Island is raging in controversy over the proposed undergrounding project there. Residents polled several times over the past years are being asked again if they're in favor of undergrounding and its now $20 million cost. Survey ballots are due back at the city April 28. So what options do those on fixed incomes have if they can't afford tens of thousands of dollars for undergrounding and hook ups? Older homes may have to completely be rewired to accommodate new power requirements, adding even more personal costs. You'd think with so much planning time the city would have a good plan. It doesn't. The city's policy for those who can't pay is to send you a tax bill. If you don't pay it, penalty fees accrue with the county. The city sends you reminder bills and it all ends with a lien on your property. The city claims "it has never foreclosed on a property for non payment of an assessment." Gee, that makes me feel much better, how about you? Balboa residents are clamoring for city officials to re-bid the project and have Southern California Edison release a detailed breakdown of the $20 million costs. Sound like a reasonable idea? Apparently not, Edison has its number and their sticking to it …or rather sticking it to Balboa residents. But before you start tacking up anti-undergrounding fliers on utility poles, consider this. Some cities have actually banned this practice because a wood preservative commonly used in pole treatment, pentachlorophenol that wards off rot and insects, oozes out of older poles and has proven to be toxic. That black gunk can be 220 times higher than the EPA's acceptable limit depending on concentration. If the price of undergrounding doesn't make you sick, the toxic chemicals from the wood leaching into the soil and water could very well do the trick! Barbara Venezia is former chairman of the Santa Ana Heights Redevelopment Agency Project Advisory Committee. |
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