Edison nearly done burying PCH power lines — but cables stay
Telecom companies aren't required to underground their thick black lines and have no incentive to do so in Malibu.
Southern California Edison is nearly finished with its big underground power line installation in the eastern Malibu fire area.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the big thick telecommunications lines are going to stay. At least for now.
City manager Joe Irvin told the city council last night the city is trying to get the big black cables buried too.
“The thing that we’re hearing a lot relates to telecom and what is happening with telecom,” Irvin said. “And I just wanted to say that telecom are not required by law to underground at the same time as the electric companies. We are working with them to try to make it attractive for them, to have some value in doing this.”
Companies like Charter Spectrum, AT&T, T-Mobile and Crown Castle have no financial incentive to bury their lines. They are voluntarily burying their lines in Topanga Canyon as a result of community demand. But not in Malibu.