When Edison Co. Lets Off Steam Neighbors Really Hear About It

Everybody needs to let off steam sometimes and Southern California Edison Co. is no exception. But when the Edison plant in Redondo Beach does it--always unexpectedly--nearby residents say it sounds as if a jet plane is landing on their homes.

The neighbors are upset not only by the irregular, unpredictable jet-like sounds, but also by a continual droning noise, dusty fallout and occasional odors, all of which they say come from the plant. Frequent loud noises, they added, not only scare them but shake their homes and rattle windows.

An Edison Co. spokesman said that the dirt and odors are caused by other sources and that the noise is no louder than legally allowed, although recent county tests show that is not always true.

But Rand Wellendorf, who has lived on North Elena Avenue about a half block south of the plant for about 18 months, said, “The power plant’s a 24-hour constant noise.”

Another frustration, he said, is having to dust his home at least every two days. “I’ve never had a house get so dirty as this one does, and that’s with the windows and doors closed.”

He and other neighbors complained in interviews that they usually must keep their windows and doors closed to watch television, talk on the telephone or carry on a conversation.

Recently, on a particularly loud day at the plant, Lynn Wellendorf-Weuste, who shares the house with her brother and his girlfriend, answered the phone but could not hear the caller. She told him to hold on while she shut the door.

Coincidentally, on the other end of the line was Frank Gomez, a county noise official, asking if he could measure the plant’s noise from the Wellendorfs’ yard not far from Edison. Gomez was there within five minutes with equipment that can measure sound from a specific source, screening out other noises.

His measurements, taken on March 31, showed that the noise the plant was generating was 10 to 12 decibels higher than the city’s noise ordinance allows. Residents in the neighborhood would perceive the noise as twice as loud as what is permitted in that area of Redondo Beach, Gomez said.

Gomez recorded noise levels from the plant that afternoon at 64-65 decibels and levels of 52 decibels in areas farther from the plant, he said. The legal limit for the Wellendorfs’ neighborhood is 55 decibels between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and 50 decibels at other times.

By Comparison, the noise from a jet taking off is 140 decibels at close range.

‘Worst-Case’ Area

Gomez described the Wellendorfs’ house as being in a “worst-case” area. “It’s a significant noise problem--the noise level I picked up at that home,” he said. “It’s not a marginal case.”

But even Edison’s critics say noise is louder at some times than others. On Monday Wellendorf said that, except for an exceptionally loud release of steam last Sunday night, “I probably shouldn’t say this, but it hasn’t been too bad lately.”

Gomez was back in Wellendorf’s yard Wednesday night and his measurements bore that out. Noise from the plant was only 55 decibels. But that was still five decibels louder than what is allowed after 10 p.m., when he took the measurements.

At two other locations at least half a mile from the power plant, the noise level was only 45 decibels about the same time, he said.

‘Relatively Quiet’

“It shows you that without the influence of the power plant, the noise level in Redondo Beach is relatively quiet and matches most other places in the county,” Gomez said.

John Haddon, the beach cities area manager for Edison, said the company, which has been at the Redondo Beach site since 1897, does not believe its noise levels are above the legal limits based on measurements taken by company representatives and an independent consultant hired by Edison.

“It was kind of like the fox guarding the hen house,” City Atty. Gordon Phillips said of Edison’s tests. “They control the noise source and they control the instrument measuring the noise source. It’s a little suspect.”

Gomez said he attributes the significant difference in the noise levels on the two days he took measurements to the Edison plant’s use of different turbines.

Some Data Guarded

Haddon said Edison has four units at the plant, each with a boiler, turbine and generator, but not all operate constantly and sometimes none is operating. He said the company would not say which generators were operating at a given time, and said releasing such data would be like Coca-Cola revealing its soft drink formula, but he said the company has offered to give that information to the county.

The company does not know when to expect the loud noises heard when steam is let off, he said, because steam is automatically released by safety valves when pressure in the units gets too high.

And Haddon, Gomez and city officials pointed out that Edison was there before the neighborhood and residents knew about the power plant when they moved in.

Many neighbors to the south of Edison complained vehemently in interviews about the noise, fallout and odors that they say are coming from the plant, but city officials say they have received few complaints in recent years. Nonetheless, officials have been working on a new noise ordinance for some time, and Gomez is advising them on it.

Easier to Measure

The new ordinance will allow easier monitoring of noise and enforcement of standards by simplifying the method of measuring noise levels.

Most of the complaints they have received, officials say, have come from one person--resident Tom O’Leary, who has been a frequent critic of the City Council and Edison over the years.

“Noise ordinances are enforced on a complaint basis, that’s their nature,” said City Manager Tim Casey. “Essentially, if there’s not a complaint, there’s not a noise problem.”

City Atty. Phillips said the Police Department receives about five noise complaints each year citywide, and that includes noise from all sources.

Calls Invited

Anybody bothered by noise from Edison should call him, Phillips added. “We really are curious to get where the complaints are coming from and the type of noise they’re hearing . . . I think we really need that kind of information.” He said the only recent complaints have been from O’Leary.

Some residents said they have not complained about the noise because they feel city officials don’t care and they can’t fight Edison.

“I don’t think the people have enough power” to do anything about the noise, Wellendorf said. “I don’t think the city cares.”

He and a few other residents said that O’Leary, who lives about half a mile from the plant, has kept them informed recently about his battles with the city.

‘Our Main Backer’

“He’s really our main backer on this, because we don’t know how to fight City Hall,” Wellendorf-Weuste said.

“He’s our mouthpiece,” agreed Rosemary Carr, who lives with the Wellendorfs. “I see people trying to do things, citizens trying to do something about it, but what counts is these guys,” Carr said, pointing to the power plant.

Michael Bobonic, who moved to North Elena three months ago and is a motorcycle mechanic for the Redondo Beach Police Department, said he did not understand why most of his neighbors complained about the noise--until last Sunday.

He and other residents described an extremely loud sound that they said lasted for minutes and sounded as if a jet was crashing in their neighborhoods. Residents ran into the street to see what was happening, they said.

‘Blew Up Like a Rocket’

“I can live with noise,” Bobonic said Monday. “I used to live on an ambulance route. But last night, this thing blew up like a rocket and it scared the hell out of me. . . . That would have woke me up from a sound drunken sleep, believe me.”

Several residents said they plan to move out of the neighborhood just to get away from the power plant. One of those, Debra Prodan, said she has lived on North Elena for 26 years. “I want to be near the beach,” she said, “but I want to move to Hollywood Riviera--away from here. . . . It’s the pits.”

Haddon said the plant runs basically at a constant level and that atmospheric, wind and other weather conditions probably have “more to do with the perceived noise levels in the neighborhood than anything else.”

Perhaps that explains why most residents interviewed just north of the plant in Hermosa Beach said they are not bothered by its noise, although a few complained about odors.

Sue Smith, assistant manager of the large Playa Pacifica apartments on Herondo Street, said her tenants have never complained about the noise, although some have complained about odors they believe come from the plant.

Odors Blamed on Oil

Haddon said the odors do not come from the plant but from an oil facility across the street from Edison.

Salvation Army Lt. Dan Russell who oversees the Golden Age Residence that has been at Beryl Street and Catalina Avenue since the late 1950s, said, “We’ve never had any problems. They’ve always been good neighbors. . . . It isn’t the most pleasant thing in the world, but neither is the auto body shop across the street on the other side.”

Frank Foley, who lives about a block away from the plant on Lyndon Street in Hermosa Beach, said, “When it starts up the house shakes. That’s about it. . . . The house also shakes when a bus goes by, to put it in perspective.”

Gomez said, “Noise problems: most people think they’re pretty silly until they’re personally affected by them and then they go crazy.”