SCE transmission line upgrade troubles Whitewater resident

It will be a way to help Southern California Edison bring renewable energy resources to the Coachella Valley and other areas of the Southland.

It’s called the West of Devers Upgrade Project.

The idea is to reduce the number of existing 220 kilovolt transmission towers over a 48-mile corridor running from the Colton area to the Devers substation in North Palm Springs.

The current towers would be replaced by towers that can handle higher capacity power lines.

However, the plan concerns Whitewater resident David Doherty. He lives near the current lines and isn’t happy about a proposal to place a new transmission tower on his property, near the wall to his backyard.

“It’s just wide open space behind me, but they want to move it into populated space. I don’t understand it,” said Doherty.

SCE holds an easement on the northern portion of Doherty’s property.

The power company told us, it will have a project team or crisis team pay Doherty a visit to answer any of his questions or concerns. Doherty says he has already attended two public forums regarding the project.

The Devers Upgrade Project still needs to be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. Once that happens, work on installing the higher capacity power lines won’t begin for at least two years.