Transcript:

Hi Norco,

I’m Mayor Greg Newton.

As you well know, Norco is more than a city. It’s a way of life that you can’t find anywhere else in Southern California. You can see how special Norco is in our horse trails, our parks, our open space, and most importantly our people. But right now…that is all at risk.

You may have heard of the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project, or RTRP. This joint project between Southern California Edison and Riverside Public Utilities is meant to provide more power capacity to Riverside, however it’s putting Norco directly in harm’s way. This project plans to construct a massive steel lattice transmission tower right next to one of our animal-keeping neighborhoods. The overhead, high voltage lines would pass over our riverbed that’s full of flammable vegetation and is also the same region that gave the notorious Santa Ana Winds their name. This would mean increased threats of catastrophic wildfires, irreversible harm to our ecosystem, destruction of our iconic views, and long-term impacts on Norco’s safety and welfare.

For years, Norco’s City Council Members have publicly opposed this project and advocated for these unsightly and hazardous lines to be underground because we believe in safe and reliable power without sacrificing the safety of our residents, their animals, or our community’s open space.

Our many requests, letters, petitions, and even proposals for legislation to underground this dangerous project and protect our city have been continuously denied or ignored. We’ve now all witnessed the devastation following the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, not far from Norco, and we can’t just sit back knowing that Norco could be added to this list of tragedies.

The Norco City Council firmly believes that’s it’s never too late to do the right thing. But, we need YOUR help.

We’re calling on our residents, neighbors, and all supporters of undergrounding transmission lines to use their platforms and their voices to bring attention to this project before construction begins and demand that safety starts underground. Your help could prevent potential tragedies and protect our community for future generations.