Assurances Fail to Quell Fight Over Electric Station : Health: Arleta residents worried about a possible cancer link continue to battle DWP plans to build the distributing facility.

Arleta residents vowed Thursday night to continue fighting a proposed new electricity distributing station despite contentions by utility officials that the station will not increase potential health risks from electromagnetic fields.

The residents, who are battling plans by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to build the distributing station in the 13200 block of Branford Street, attacked the department for insisting on putting the station in their neighborhood of small, single-family houses, instead of in one of several less populated alternative sites.

The crowd of about 110 people at the meeting at Beachy Avenue Elementary School applauded the reading of a letter from Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), who supported the demand for an alternative site.

“Until all questions concerning the effects of electromagnetic fields on human life are answered, I want no risks taken,” Berman wrote.

A distributing station transforms high-voltage current into lower-voltage power for distribution to nearby homes and businesses. DWP officials say the station is needed to meet growing demand for electricity and would cost more and be less effective if built at one of the alternative sites, due to power losses from running distribution lines a longer distance to the areas served.

The neighborhood battle reflects nationwide concern about possible cancer risks from electromagnetic (EM) fields, invisible lines of force that radiate outward from wires and devices that carry electric current.

Some studies have found a small increase in rates of certain types of cancer among children living near high-current power lines and among those who work in close proximity to electricity, such as utility linemen and film projectionists. But scientists generally say the evidence of a causal link between EM fields and cancer has not been proven.

“The scientific community has not been able to provide a conclusive answer,” said Randy Erickson, a DWP electrical engineering associate, during a presentation on EM fields research to the meeting.

In any case, Erickson said, measurements around the perimeter of nine distributing stations in Los Angeles show that “you cannot detect the presence of a distributing station” in nearby homes. But Erickson and other DWP officials turned aside questions about the choice of the site, saying they were not part of the team that chose it, drawing a bitter response from many in the audience.

“If there is so much uncertainty, why do you build something like this in the midst of people?” asked Michael Dombroski, who said he lives about 200 feet from the proposed site.

The project must be approved by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, the policy-making panel that oversees the DWP. Joe Bonilla, one of the leaders of the residents’ protest, vowed that a large contingent of neighbors would be on hand when the proposal goes before the board.