Opt-Out Information Needed: Soil Testing: Underground Power lines

Share Story :

Power and other utility lines should be buried underground.

OPTING-OUT:

This editor had hoped to have a story about the issues with opting out of the Army Corps of Engineers Debris Removal today, but needs more information from residents who have gone this option.

• Is it easy to get the forms approved through the County? (People who have opted in are experiencing long waits for the County to refer forms to the Army Corps of Engineers.)
• Are the private contractors doing debris removal able to use the haul routes that the Army Corp is using?
• Is there anything else you think this editor should know.

As an FYI, I’ve been told that there is a lot of misinformation about the insurance money for debris. According to the information put out by Mayor Karen Bass on a city website, “If you have a specified amount for debris removal in your insurance policy, you may use your insurance proceeds to remove fire related debris that is ineligible for removal under the program (for example, swimming pools, patios, trees, etc.). The County will only collect remaining insurance proceeds, if any, after you have removed fire-related debris not included as part of the Government Sponsored Program.

If your homeowner’s insurance policy does not have a separate, debris-specific clause and instead includes the costs of debris removal in the total coverage, you may use these proceeds to pay for the removal of fire-related debris that is not included as part of the Government-Sponsored Program. The County will only collect remaining insurance proceeds, if any, after your residence is rebuilt.

In either scenario, the property owner will be required to substantiate all expenditures.

I’ve also been told that the County, not the Corps performed debris removal for the Woolsey Fire, has anyone had an experience with that?

Please send your experiences with opting out to editor@circlingthenews.com

WATER/SOIL SAMPLING:

As part of the Community Action Project – Los Angeles (CAP-LA) which focuses on the recovery in the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires, researchers at Loyola Marymount University, UCLA, and Purdue University are asking owners of properties near the Palisades and Eaton Fires for permission to collect soil and water samples in their yards, gardens, and/or pools to test for possible wildfire pollutants. This project is funded by the R&S Kayne Foundation, and there is NO cost to the homeowner for the sampling or testing. The results will be provided to the homeowner once testing is completed (~1-2 weeks after samples are collected). Additionally, results, grouped and mapped by neighborhood, will be available and updated regularly, but no names or specific addresses will be listed with the results click here.

UNDERGROUNDING UTILITIES:

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power does not need a new substation to underground the lines in the Alphabet Streets and the Via de las Olas bluffs. Those lines were connected to and are part of the original station built on Via de la Paz and Sunset. Since those areas are almost 95 percent decimated, this is the perfect time to underground the lines –  if the DWP were serious.  Or is this just another promise of something that will happen in the future?

Share Story :