Valley Perspective : Moving Out of Harm’s Way : Federal funds may be needed to protect Castaic Middle School

Granted, this is Los Angeles County, a region that didn’t have to wait for the Industrial Revolution to discover the joys of air pollution. (All it took was a few campfires.)

It’s the part of the country where folks willingly endure threats of earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, floods and drought. And some of the same people can’t wait to get away to ski at Mammoth Mountain. . .near that massive and geologically active volcanic caldera.

But even Southern Californians have to draw the line somewhere. It may as well have been at an elementary school that is peculiarly situated even by local standards.

For years, Castaic Elementary School’s sword of Damocles has been the earthquake risk and the school’s proximity to high-power voltage lines (which could tumble) and oil pipelines (which could rupture). The campus even sits below a dam that holds back a half-mile long lake and about 323,000 acre-feet of water (the dam could fail and sweep the school away in just three minutes).

Now we’re told that an an 18-month quest to acquire the federal funding to move the school to a safer site may finally be at an end. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to award the Castaic Union School District more than $7 million to accomplish the move.

That’s great news. Now, it’s also important to see that the Castaic Middle School relocation is also completed soon. It also sits in the path of the lake. If the $20 million in local bond money that voters approved in 1993 is not sufficient for that task, then perhaps state or federal funds could be tapped.

We know that the district missed the boat of federal funds for the middle school, and we know that the federal government didn’t build the dam. The current school district didn’t put the school in harm’s way.