The Signal (Santa Clarita, Calif.), May 9, 2007

UNCERTAINTY OVER LEUKEMIA LINK SHAPES SCE POWER PLAN

[Rachel's introduction: The California Public Utilities Commission has adopted a precautionary approach and has issued orders for electrical companies like Southern California Edison to take preventive measures to reduce electro-magnetic fields near new high- voltage power lines.]

By Kristopher Daams

As a new power line project is planned to make its way through the northern Santa Clarita Valley, officials with Southern California Edison (SCE) said they would take steps to reduce a potential human impact of the project.

Southern California Edison's Antelope-Pardee 500-kV Transmission Line Project is set to run from the Tehachapi area through the Angeles National Forest and into the Santa Clarita Valley, where it would cut through northern areas of Saugus and Valencia and terminate at the Pardee substation in the Valencia Industrial Center.

Current towers along a route would be replaced with taller ones, and the lines would carry 500,000 volts of electricity, larger than normal transmission lines. Electromagnetic fields, EMFs, exist at current lines. With higher-capacity lines and more current running through them, EMFs could be stronger, but their potential impact on human health remains unclear.

Previous conflicting studies have shown limited or no evidence for a link between EMFs in homes near power lines and childhood leukemia.

EMFs are defined by the National Cancer Institute as "areas of energy that surround any electrical device" and are produced by power lines, home appliances such as hair dryers and electrical wiring."

"So the issue is being driven by this concern, but the conclusion of this scientific research is that it remains in this area of possibility," said John Sirugo, manager of Edison's EMF group.

Sirugo said there have been anywhere from 25 to 30 studies on the effects of EMFs over the past 25 years with no strong evidence to back up the leukemia claim, such as supporting cellular studies.

But state officials and staff with the California Public Utilities Commission have nevertheless taken up the precautionary principle, Sirugo said, and have issued orders for electrical companies like Edison to take preventive measures to reduce possible EMF effects.

Edison EMF engineer Glenn Sias told a group of Leona Valley residents Monday night that while the state and federal governments don't have a sure answer whether EMFs impact human health at all, "we're not taking a position that there's not a problem."

In a recent interview, Sias said one measure Edison engineers take is an alignment of power lines that cancels out magnetic fields.

The closer the lines are together, the more the magnetic fields cancel. But safety concerns for maintenance workers and the risk of electricity arcing limit how close the lines can be.

He said the arrangement is "very effective when there's multiple lines in a right of way."

Edison is authorized to spend 4 percent of a project's total cost to pursue a 15 percent reduction in magnetic fields, measured in gauss, a unit of magnetic field strength.

At the edge of a right of way for an electrical tower, Sirugo said, typical exposure can be up to 40 milligauss, while a hair dryer at top heat can release several thousand.

Edison is following the lead of the CPUC, which regulates electrical companies like Edison.

"We don't have a clear answer," Sirugo said, "and in the interim, while we're waiting for that... we feel it's a reasonable thing to take some steps, and we are trying to do it in a way that makes sense."

Copyright 2007 The-Signal.com