The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion to investigate all legal options available to mitigate the impacts of future Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events at their regular meeting on Tuesday.

These power shut-offs occur when Southern California Edison (SCE) officials determine there is an elevated risk of wildfire, most frequently due to high winds. Recent PSPS occurrences have had a repeated impact on residents in a variety of communities across the Santa Clarita Valley.

The motion, put forward by Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, orders the Acting County Counsel to look into a variety of areas to potentially mitigate the impact of PSPS on county residents.

“PSPS events have become far more frequent than initially predicted and pose a significant risk to the health and safety of unincorporated communities,” Barger wrote. “Power shutoffs leave residents without cell service, internet service, and telephone land lines. Other utility providers, including telecommunication companies, have limited back-up battery power, leaving residents with no ability to receive updates or emergency notifications from emergency responders and even SCE.”

One specific action called for in the motion was a full review and report on all California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rules related to Southern California Edison’s (SCE) PSPS program in 30 days.

Additionally, it instructs the Acting Chief Executive Officer to send a letter from the board of supervisors to Governor Gavin Newsom, the CPUC and the Los Angeles County Legislative Delegation, to request additional reviews of SCE’s PSPS program.

See Related: Holiday Public Safety Power Shutoffs To Continue Through Christmas Day In Parts Of Santa Clarita

Those reviews are to include “the need to address proper notification and communication to impacted communities, and to mandate substantial additional mitigation measures as a requirement for the continuation of the PSPS program,” according to the motion.

Potential mitigation efforts proposed in the motion include “the deployment of battery-backup systems, generator programs, additional Community Resource Centers and other necessary strategies to ensure the health and safety of County residents.”

Residents of those communities impacted by the PSPSs are anxious to reach some sort of resolution as the number of shut-offs have increased in frequency in recent months.

“How is it that we are expected to pay for electricity each month, with rates that keep going up, but nothing can be done to keep our power on that we are paying for,” said Canyon Country resident Mandell Anthony. “Now I know, because I have heard it from multiple people, that they are doing so to prevent fires. So why is it that the customers have to be potentially be put in danger, instead of the company strengthening their infrastructure to be able to handle wind?”

The full motion put forward by Supervisor Barger is available here.

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