February 13, 2014 The Malibu Times A5

WaxmanFrom page A1

Power polesFrom page A1

Malibu HighFrom page A1

ATTENTION Do you have a young person lying on your couch? Eating all your food? Staring at their iPhone?

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c. Want my bundle of joy to experience that age-old tradition commonly referred to as “working for a living”.

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WINTER

Dancing with dadAdoring fathers dressed in their finest attire on Saturday night to accompany their special girls for the Annual Father Daughter Valentine’s Dance, sponsored by Malibu Presbyterian Church. The excited girls wore party dresses made of velvet, chif-fon and lace, donning cor-sages, bows and tiaras. A longtime tradition for many Malibu locals, the dance fea-tured a barbeque with a ban-quet of sweets for dessert. Actor Cary Elwes and cine-matographer Ulf Soderqvist said they planned to con-tinue the tradition until their daughters, best friends Dominique and Isabella, turn 18.

Fathers and daughters kick up their heels at the annual Father Daughter Valentine’s Dance on Saturday night.

Girls of all ages get on the dance floor and strike a pose at the annual Father Daughter Valentine’s Dance.

Sailor Graham and Jessie Giacomazzi jump on stage to dance and sing with the DJ.

Rob Magdlen dances with Luella, the youngest of three daughters he brought to the dance.

David and daughters Emma and Ailey walk down the red carpet before hitting the dance floor.

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year for wildfires, many caused by downed power poles.

The 2007 Malibu Canyon Fire, which burned more than 4,521 acres and destroyed 14 structures, was caused by three utility poles that fell over during fierce Santa Ana winds. The pole primarily responsible for the fire was 50 years old and overloaded with communi-cations and electrical lines.

The owners of those poles, including Southern California Edison (SCE) and four cellphone companies, eventually paid a total of $63.5 million in settle-ment agreements to the CPUC to resolve all issues related to the fire.

“A recent independent safety study of SCE’s poles found that 50 percent in high wind areas are overburdened or decrepit,” said local activist Hans Laetz. “System-wide, Edison has a 22 percent flunk rate.”

Malibu wasn’t the only com-munity with extensive fire damage caused by downed power lines in 2007—San Diego Gas & Electric power lines started three major fires and the utility paid $686 million to insurance companies for the Witch (197,990 acres), Guejito and Rice Canyon (9,472 acres) fires.

Laetz spent three years on the CPUC’s technical advisory panel, where he proposed a number of rules that he believed would increase fire safety. He was the only individu-al citizen on a panel of 43 engineers and lawyers from electric utilities, telecommunications companies, cable providers, consumer groups, fire agencies and consultants.

Some of the meetings were contentious.

“We went back and forth,” Laetz said. “The cell companies

and [telecommunications compa-nies] wanted to use this exercise to weaken existing rules in some areas.”

One of the changes is that poles must now be designed to withstand wind speeds of 112 mph in certain areas instead of 92 mph, according to Laetz.

“The cell companies wanted to cut it to 56 mph. That is a big deal,” he said. “Some experts said localized wind gusts in excess of 92 mph are what caused the Malibu Canyon Fire of 2007.”

A spokesperson for Southern California Edison told The Malibu Times the company “cannot com-ment at this time” regarding the new power pole rules because “the topic is still subject to further com-mission action.”

A representative for the CPUC told The Malibu Times that the commission’s goal was to improve public safety by reducing fire haz-ards “in response to the wide-spread devastation caused by wildfires in 2007.”

Although Laetz didn’t get every rule he proposed, he won several major victories.

“The commission agreed with the gist of my proposed rule that crooked or leaning power poles should be prohibited. They put California utilities on notice: No leaning poles will be tolerated. Period. That was my original pro-posal, and the commission is going beyond what I hoped for.”

The commission also agreed with Laetz’s proposal to require companies to keep records of what they install on poles, and the engi-neering calculations that support it, forever. “The utilities wanted to be able to throw out or ‘lose’ engi-neering data after only 10 years,” he said.

parents who serves on a Malibu High environmental task force, said the agreement failed to make mention of the DTSC’s specific plans at Malibu High or Juan Cabrillo Elementary.

“I would like to see [the DTSC’s] plan and how they are going to work with Environ to test the soil for all contaminants and the classrooms for contaminants other than PCBs,” Denicola told The Malibu Times.

Boardmembers Oscar de la Torre and Laurie Lieberman also expressed skepticism with the contract in response to ques-tions raised by Denicola at last Thursday’s board meeting, with

Lieberman stating the contract “makes everybody uneasy, with good reason.”

But Tuesday, Lieberman said it was too soon to expect specifics on the level of DTSC’s involvement.

“This is the standard agree-ment that [the DTSC] use...I just don’t think there’s any way out at this point since no one has decided what’s going to be tested or where it’s going to be tested,” Lieberman said Tuesday. “I think that’s why it is a little vague. The reality will get nailed down as we move forward.”

Once Environ has completed its testing, the district is required to submit the findings to the DTSC for review.

Dept. of Toxic Substances Control’s role in Malibu High cleanupThe Santa Monica-Malibu

U n i f i e d S c h o o l D i s t r i c t has retained the Cal i fornia Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to oversee its consultant, Environ, as it tests and removes potential contami-nants at Malibu High School and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School.

Here are DTSC’s responsibil-ities, as laid out in the contract’s scope of work:

1) DTSC will coordinate and attend meetings with both consultants and community stakeholders, coordinate with other regulatory agen-cies that may be involved, issue fact sheets and notices, and insure that project

information is available online to the public.

2) Review plans to remove the contaminants and propose any additional work or areas of additional concern, if needed. Following an initial review, a scoping meet-ing will be held to discuss whether further tests are necessary.

3) Ensure that Environ is fol-lowing state guidelines in conducting a Preliminary Environmental Assessment (PEA), to determine wheth-er removing substances at the site poses a threat to human health or the envi-ronment.

4) Review and comment on plans for public participa-tion to be made by Environ,

which are to include a scop-ing meeting to make sure interested public and com-munity are involved in the DTSC’s decision-making process. Environ must also prepare a community profile to determine the commu-nity’s knowledge of the site; types of community con-cerns; prepare a community mailing list; and proximity of the site to homes, churches and daycares, among other factors.

5) Review and approve fact

sheets to be submitted by Environ to be submitted to a community mailing list.

6) Review and approve a Health and Safety plan by Environ to cover measures to be taken during testing and remediation to protect the health and safety of workers at the site as well as the gen-eral public from exposure to hazardous waste, substances or materials. The plan should “describe specific personnel, procedures and equipment to be utilized.”

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