Project overview and history

The Riverside Transmission Reliability Project (RTRP) is a joint project between Southern California Edison (SCE) and Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) to build a new 230,000-volt (230 kV) electric transmission line, providing the City of Riverside with a second connection to the California electric grid. The project spans parts of Riverside, as well as sections of Norco and Jurupa Valley, and mixes overhead and underground transmission lines. The RTRP plans to build high-power overhead transmission lines in a wind- and fire-prone area along Norco’s portion of the Santa Ana River.

Since 2017, the City of Norco has communicated its concerns about the RTRP and has publicly opposed the construction of any overhead transmission lines in and around the Santa Ana River, as well as in adjacent neighborhoods outside of Norco.

The RTRP was proposed to provide Riverside with additional power capacity to serve existing and projected electrical demand; however, the approved overhead transmission lines present significant safety and environmental hazards, specifically wildfire hazards, to Norco and many surrounding communities. Norco has experienced a dramatic increase in the risk of catastrophic wildfires within its city limits since the original environmental impact study was conducted. In March 2020, the Mann Fire burned through 180 acres of land, a portion along the bottom of the Riverbed where the RTRP is proposed to be built. The risk of another devastating fire will be increased exponentially by the construction of an overhead, high-voltage transmission line that will pass through open space loaded with flammable vegetation in the very region that gave the notorious Santa Ana Winds their name and where a catastrophic wildfire already took place.