Sparking Power Lines to Be Dismantled

High-voltage power lines that spark above backyards and flash outside the windows of hundreds of beach-area homes will be dismantled, representatives of Rockwell International Corp. announced Monday.

“We were willing to make some investment here in our facilities in order to accommodate the community’s request,” Rockwell spokeswoman Michelle Bandoian said. “We are currently testing our new generating system, and we expect to turn the lines over to Edison the first week in April.”

The lines are used in part as an emergency backup system.

Concerns about the safety of the 66,000-volt lines that sizzle and arc atop 80-foot-high towers led residents to collect more than 300 signatures last year calling for their removal.

“When they get salt air on them, you can hear them from about two blocks away,” said Paul Yost, a 36-year-old anesthesiologist. He said the high-voltage wires come within 30 feet of his 3-year-old daughter’s bedroom. “They snap and crackle.”

Southern California Edison Co. expects to start work immediately and finish by the end of the year. The work will cost the company $250,000.

Rockwell is spending about $150,000 to reconfigure power generators to eliminate the need for the power lines, according to Michael Baddley, manager of facilities and industrial engineering at Rockwell.

Yost, who created the “Power Line News” on his home computer to keep residents informed during negotiations with Rockwell and the Edison Co., said fierce storms knocked the high-voltage lines down about four years ago.

“They don’t really need to be here,” Yost said. “We are just extremely happy that these corporations could come together to make this a better community.”