Environmental Groups Want Investigation of Power Lines in October Fires

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 2, 2008 at 6:45 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Two environmental groups want California regulators to open a formal investigation into the role power lines might have had in last October's wildfires. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

Two environmental groups want California regulators to open a formal investigation into the role power lines might have had in last October's wildfires. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity want the state public utilities commission to open a public investigation into the relationship between power lines and the October 2007 wildfires in San Diego and other counties. David Hogan is with the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Hogan: The California Public Utilities Commission has been very quiet about their review of what happened in October with the wildfires and power lines. Nobody really knows what they're doing. They've said they're doing an investigation but there's no record of it and they're not releasing any records of it. And have said that it's an internal investigation. And that the results would not be released. We don't feel that that's acceptable.

Hogan says the state agency hasn't responded to the request. San Diego Gas and Electric asked state regulators to review power line safety standards shortly after the October wildfires. The utility is facing a class action lawsuit on behalf of two county residents who lost their homes in the fires.

The suit alleges gross negligence on the part of SDG&E and parent company Sempra Energy, claiming the utility's transmission lines and power poles ignited the Witch and Rice fires.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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