Bills require unused power cords to avoid the risk of wildfires in Sacramento’s death
A state bill that requires utilities owned by Southern California Edison and other investors to take steps to avoid catastrophic wildfires died in Sacramento on Friday.
Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) area includes Altadena, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire in January.
She introduced SB 256 Earlier this year Report in the Los Angeles Times Regarding some investigators and experts, the retired power transmission line in Eaton Canyon could be the ignition site for the fire.
The report also shows that Edison knows that some of the TV towers under investigation have long been overdue maintenance and are classified as “ignition risk” in company records.
Her legislation would require utilities owned by Edison and other investors to develop a plan to remove power lines that have been retired across the state.
According to an email from Senator Jerome Parra, an email from the Senator.
Pérez called the bill written by her, her highest legislative priority for the year and said its failure was “disappointing” given the interests of the issue.
“I’m very frustrated because, when do we ask? When do we actually start to reduce fire risk and make sure utilities reduce fire risk?” Perez said in an interview.
Perez also quoted Report in The Times Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro acknowledged that “the possibility of an idle, unrelated Southern California Edison transmission line re-enlisting on January 7 in some way is a “leading assumption”, which is the beginning of the destructive Eaton fire.”
Edison spokesman Brian Leventhal provided a brief statement on behalf of the company.
“We worked with the Senator’s Office to withdraw the opposition and remain neutral,” he said.
Nic Arnzen’s home in Altadena is one of thousands of people destroyed by the Eaton Fire. As Vice-Chairman of the Altadena Town Council and Chairman of the Neighborhood Association of the Altadena Alliance, Arnzen represents many residents who have lost their loved ones, property and livelihoods.
He said he was so “so passionate” about SB 256 that he went to Sacramento earlier this year to support it, especially the rules that require dismissal. He was also frustrated to learn that he died Friday even before the committee voted.
“I’m a guy who lost my home, everything in our family, I went there because I believe all the bills … it’s the heart of the problem,” Arnzen said in an interview. “Without this bill, I can’t think of another bill that really succeeds in solving a specific problem on this retirement line. So, it’s really disappointing.”
Perez noted that utilities that had previously requested to reject the bill have officially withdrawn the opposition in recent weeks. So, she said she was “shocked” by her failure to move forward.
Pérez started her first semester just a month before the Eaton Fire destroyed much of her area, saying her legislators told her that her legislation would be a “hard battle” given the strong and influential utilities of the utilities. Given that there is no formal opposition to the bill, she said she was worried about the utility doing a “shadow lobbying” behind the scenes to ensure lawmakers don’t support the utility.
“The fees are negligible, the opposition without a registered one, I made it my first mission. Tell me what’s going on here,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed.”
