Despite ongoing pushback on its plans to run power lines along towers up to 180 feet tall above the Santa Ana River, a majority of the Riverside City Council on Tuesday, May 14, gave the long-awaited project its final approval.
At its meeting Tuesday evening, the council voted 4-3 to proceed with the power project as proposed, rather than scrap the plan and redesign it to bury the power lines, as officials from neighboring Norco and Jurupa Valley have urged.
Riverside officials have expressed concerns about power outages with the city’s current connection to the power grid, and Southern California Edison has been developing plans for a second connection, or the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project, for years. The project ultimately would tie in near Jurupa Valley and carry power to Riverside with dozens of 90- to 170-foot steel poles.
Norco City Councilmember Kevin Bash, who spoke at the council meeting Tuesday, criticized Riverside for fighting opponents of the planned above-ground power lines.
“This (project) needs to be undergrounded,” Bash said.
In its push to see the power transmission lines buried, Norco and its supporters, including a bipartisan group of elected officials, have argued that wildfire risks and other conditions have changed in recent years, justifying changes to the project.
Caroline Choi, senior vice president of corporate affairs and public policy at SoCal Edison, said the project is critical to meeting Riverside’s needs.
“Riverside’s current system capacity is nearing its limit, Choi said, “with peak loads expected to exceed safe operating standards by 2029, or as early as 2026 with expected demand growth.”
The majority of the Riverside council agreed — despite opposition from nearly half of the public speakers at the meeting Tuesday — saying it’s time to get to work on a project two decades in the making.
“Based on the totality and what is best for the entire city,” Councilmember Jim Perry said, “it is time to move on with this project.”
Councilmembers Philip Falcone, Steven Robillard and Sean Mill joined Perry in voting for the project. Councilmembers Clarissa Cervantes, Chuck Conder and Steve Hemenway voted against it.
In October, the council left the decision on the project up to the California Public Utility Commission, which authorized SoCal Edison to construct the project as currently designed. With the council’s vote Tuesday, the construction of the project will essentially be in the hands of SoCal Edison.
The transmission lines will run from the utility’s Mira Loma Substation in Ontario to the Wildlife Substation in Riverside, along the Santa Ana River. Total project cost is estimated at $730 million. The city’s portion for the project is about $208.8 million.
Officials say the transmission lines will be completed by 2029.
Reached Wednesday, Bash said the city of Norco has one option: “Fight.”
Undergrounding the lines has already been rejected by the CPUC, however, so a path toward changing the project is unclear.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct tower heights, details about speakers at the council meeting and to clarify opposition to the project.
