Transmission Towers

One of the best views in Los Angeles has panoramic vistas of Downtown, the Westside and the San Fernando Valley. And it's not owned by a movie mogul. The mountaintop site south of Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills (elevation 1,508 feet) is owned by Lockheed Corp., which built an antenna facility there during World War II for airplane communications.

The lights were back on Tuesday in Santa Cruz County, where self-styled environmentalists claimed responsibility for downing electrical transmission lines that left 95,000 residents without power. But no one was celebrating. Authorities have no suspects in Sunday and Monday's sabotage incidents.

Residents opposing an auto recycling business planned for land under Southern California Edison Co. transmission lines in Stanton were turned away from a workshop on the project Wednesday. Edison officials said the meeting, held at Edison offices in Santa Ana, was intended for public officials only. "They don't want the public involved," said an angry Scott Nickel, a Stanton neighborhood leader who waited unsuccessfully with another neighbor for 30 minutes to gain entrance to the meeting.

Southern California Edison got the green light Thursday to build the final segments of a nearly $2-billion transmission line that will connect customers with renewable energy produced by windmills. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the construction of the last 173 miles of Edison's 250-mile Tehachapi transmission project in Kern County. The line will be able to transmit as much as 4,500 megawatts of electricity produced from wind, enough power for nearly 3 million homes.

Facing enormous costs and fierce opposition from environmental groups, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Wednesday announced that it has dropped plans to build an 85-mile-long "green" power transmission line across desert wilderness preserves and scenic ridgelines. Controversy surrounding the proposed Green Path North Transmission Line had tarnished Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to portray himself as the leader of the "cleanest, greenest big city in America." Villaraigosa was unavailable for comment.

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."

The Planning Commission will meet Wednesday to review design plans for a fake lighthouse at 33333 Pacific Coast Highway. The lighthouse is designed to conceal antennas for wireless telecommunication systems. The commission meets at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 33282 Golden Lantern. Information: (949) 248-9890.

Gov. Gray Davis and legislators continue negotiations with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric about a state purchase of transmission lines and other proposals to return the utilities to financial health and find a way out of the electricity crisis. The governor's remedy, announced Friday, was seen as progress on the issue. But the markets continue to watch anxiously as utility creditors grow increasingly impatient.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the governors of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have agreed to build an estimated $20-billion electricity transmission system to meet rising demand for power, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Monday. Freudenthal said during a conference call that the Frontier Line system would supply electricity-hungry California -- where power demand is growing about 4% annually, or double the national average -- with power from nearby energy-producing states.