IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Norco has reaffirmed its opposition to Riverside’s plan to build above-ground transmission lines along the city’s portion of the Santa Ana River.
The city is “building a coalition” to support placing the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project underground, which would run through an area susceptible to fires according to a statement posted recently on the city’s website.
“We continue to see how above-ground transmission lines lead to devastating and deadly wildfires in small, wind-prone, and fire-prone communities like Norco,” said Councilman Kevin Bash in the statement. “We are calling on our partners to advocate for the proactive, full [underground installation] of this project to prevent potential tragedies and protect our community for future generations.”
The Riverside City Council first voted to make the project above-ground, claiming to do otherwise would be too expensive.
However, in January the council formed the Working Group, a coalition that is pursuing state and federal funds that would pay for putting the entire project underground. Norco, a Working Group member, plans to file a petition with the California Public Utilities Commission to put the project underground, according to the statement.
