LAGUNA BEACH Southern California Edison has filed a lawsuit challenging a recently approved Laguna Beach ordinance that requires utility companies to bury utility lines, power poles and vaults.
Laguna Beach has been focused for several years on undergrounding power poles and lines along the city’s major evacuation routes such as Laguna Canyon Road and Coast Highway. The topic became more urgent following a 15-acre wildfire in July 2015 that started when trees fell into utility wires, causing a power surge that sparked flames.
In the lawsuit, filed April 5 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, SCE claims that the ordinance the city enacted on March 28 violates state and federal law.