September 19, 2023
Mayor Tony Daddario and Members of the City Council
City of Corona
400 S. Vicentia Ave.
Corona, CA 92882
RE: SUPPORT FOR AGENDA ITEM 32 – Undergrounding of the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project (RTRP)
Dear Mayor Daddario and City Council Members:
On behalf of myself and the entire Norco City Council, I want to express our thanks for discussing Agenda Item 32 on your September 20 agenda regarding the undergrounding of the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project (RTRP). In the coming weeks, Norco will be petitioning the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reconsider undergrounding as the right methodology for this new electrical transmission infrastructure. We would greatly appreciate a letter of support for our petition from the City of Corona.
The City of Norco has long advocated for undergrounding of the planned RTRP high-voltage transmission lines in order to reduce the threat of wildfires, preserve and protect the Santa Ana River recreational areas and viewshed, and to preserve property values and quality of life for the neighborhoods along the route, including the Disadvantaged Communities (DAC)’s that would be adversely impacted.
An October 2022 analysis by the City of Riverside’s consultants raised important issues and concerns in support of undergrounding the RTRP. Those very same issues – the ever-growing threat of fires adjacent to our Fire Hazard Severity Zones; the impacts on disadvantaged communities; the harm to environmental aesthetics, including the destruction of views along and around the Santa Ana River recreational areas; and the devastating impacts on neighborhoods from giant transmission towers and power lines - are the reasons why Norco continues to advocate for the full undergrounding of this project.
Our cities have stood together previously on a very similar issue, when both Corona and Norco were greatly concerned about the Circle City Reliability Project and its planned overhead transmission lines. In February of 2017, the Norco City Council approved transmittal of a letter from Norco Mayor Greg Newton to the CPUC opposing the Circle City Reliability Project, and calling for the transmission to be placed underground. We hope that this time you can support Norco in a very similar effort.
As a region, we face together the continual and seemingly growing threat of wildfires that know no jurisdictional borders. Despite SCE’s false assertion that the Santa Ana River and its adjacent areas are “sparsely vegetated with low lying sage brush and largely devoid of trees”, we know that the opposite is true. Undergrounding is the safer alternative for our region. The incremental cost of less than $1 per year, per statewide ratepayer will be returned to the taxpayers many times over in the form of increased public safety and preserved property values.
We ask for your support in our efforts before the Public Utilities Commission. Thank you again for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Robin Grundmeyer
Mayor
CC: Norco City Council