Transmission Towers

Edison International said it wouldn't pursue regulatory approvals for the Arizona portion of a power line that has drawn opposition from state regulators. Edison said its Southern California Edison subsidiary would go forward with the California portion of the line, part of a $774-million project that was proposed in part to help bring solar power into the state. The transmission line will instead get power from California renewable and fossil-fuel power projects.

An environmental group has asked the California Supreme Court to review a controversial power transmission project that was approved last month by the state Public Utilities Commission.

Los Angeles officials said the city may abandon plans to build a highly controversial "green" power transmission line through unspoiled desert and wildlife preserves on a route east of the San Bernardino Mountains, focusing instead on alternative pathways mostly along an interstate highway where high-voltage lines already exist. The Department of Water and Power's proposed 85-mile-long Green Path North transmission line has faced fierce opposition from more than a dozen community and environmental groups, creating a political chink in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's efforts to cast himself as the leader of the "cleanest, greenest big city in America."

Who says they don't build 'em like they used to? When the time came to replace Los Angeles' first television broadcast tower, engineers decided to duplicate the old one. Right down to the last foot and the last steel strut. The old tower was built 57 years ago above the landmark Hollywood sign for the city's first television station, W6XAO. More recently, the 350-foot spire has been used for police, fire and other governmental two-way radio transmitters.

Family and friends of Michael Halsell huddled in small groups at school and at a San Fernando Valley hospital Tuesday, holding vigil for the Newbury Park teen who lay critically burned and bandaged from head to toe, sedated to quell the pain. About 15 friends clustered in the hallway of the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital, each kneeling to add their inscriptions to a large poster that read, "We love U Mike, Stay Strong."

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."

Soon, a tree will be planted here unlike any other. It will have branches and needles and will blend in with the pine trees at the Church of Christ at Felipe Road and Marguerite Parkway. But unlike its organic cousins, this 40-foot evergreen's trunk will be metal, and it will receive digital electronic signals from thousands of mobile phone owners.

A 1,500-foot transmission tower collapsed into a mass of twisted metal Saturday, killing three workers on the tower who earlier discussed cutting short their repairs because of windy conditions. Dallas-Fort Worth television station KXAS--one of the stations that uses the tower--reported that a gust of wind caught a machine used to hoist materials up to the workers. The machine fell, breaking a guy wire and causing the tower to fall. "When people said, 'The tower!'

In the case of Aerospace vs. Airtouch, the guys with the satellites won. The Redondo Beach City Council recently voted to deny a request to install a 60-foot cellular telephone tower at Aviation Park because, among other things, it would have interfered with satellite antenna tests at the nearby TRW aerospace facility. Councilman Joe Dawidziak said the communications firm wanted to lease 1,200 square feet of the park at $10,000 a year to shore up its transmission capabilities in the South Bay.

A plan to bury overhead utility lines cluttering the gated Surfside community and rebuild a weak-pressured water system hit a temporary snag Monday night after City Council members rejected all bids for the project. The council voted to reopen the bidding process after the two lowest bidders were disqualified for failing to properly complete city paperwork. The new bidding deadline is 10 a.m. June 29. Project supporters on Monday night called the private community "a disaster waiting to happen."