Redondo Files Noise Charges Against Edison

The city of Redondo Beach has filed criminal charges against Southern California Edison for allegedly violating the local noise ordinance.

City Prosecutor John Slawson said Thursday that the seven counts he filed in South Bay Municipal Court this week concern noise from Edison’s Redondo Beach electric plant in September. He said the charges carry a maximum of $3,485 in penalties and fines.

Sebastian Nola, Edison’s South Bay district manager, declined Thursday to discuss the case. However, he said Edison is spending $2.5 million to make the local power station quieter, installing acoustic housings and panels around turbine generators, fans, boiler feed pumps and other loud equipment. Nola said most of that work has already been done.

But Richard Gould, who lives in a condominium unit facing the power station, complained Thursday that loud noise from the plant continues.

“It’s like you have a dishwasher on your patio running all the time,” Gould said. “It’s really annoying. I no longer sleep in my master bedroom. I have to sleep in one of the secondary bedrooms on the back side of the house. . . . Last night the noise even woke me up in there.”

The City Council, spurred by residents’ complaints, decided Sept. 11 to ask that Edison be prosecuted. The charges mark the second time the city has taken the utility to court over noise.

The city lost the first case last year--partly, officials said, because their measurements did not adequately distinguish plant noise from other sources of noise. This time, though, officials said, they are confident that sound measurements were carried out correctly.

“I feel that we have a very solid case,” Slawson said.

Arraignment has been set for Oct. 23 before Municipal Court Judge Sandra Thompson.