Can California investment owned utilities and municipal power agencies expedite the undergrounding of electrical transmission wires in fire-ravaged areas?

An executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, March 27 aims to do just that.

The governor said his executive order will speed up the repairing and replacing of not just electric power lines, but also other utilities including those for gas, water, sewer, and telecommunication infrastructure in cities and communities devastated by the January fires in Los Angeles County.

To do this, Newsom has suspended what he calls “unnecessary permitting and review requirements” that will help residents of Altadena, Malibu and Pacific Palisades rebuild their homes, he said during an announcement standing along PCH with utility agencies.

The order suspends the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act to expedite the rebuilding of utility lines and telecommunication infrastructure, including making it easier and faster for utilities to underground utility lines and equipment.

Many residents who’ve lost their homes have expressed strong support for putting power lines underground so they cannot blow down in windstorms and spark a wildfire. Newsom said his executive order will move faster what is a deliberate process of undergrounding power lines in many communities.

By placing utility equipment like wires and transformers underground, it is part of the hardening of homes and neighborhoods against future wildfires, Newsom said.

“We are determined to rebuild Altadena, Malibu, and Pacific Palisades stronger and more resilient than before,” Newsom said in a prepared release. “Speeding up the pace that we rebuild our utility systems will help get survivors back home faster and prevent future fires.”

State Sen. Suzette Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, called for this exemption to be applied statewide and has written legislation to remove barriers to undergrounding statewide.

“The wildfire risk posed by overhead power lines isn’t limited to just one region—it’s a statewide crisis. If streamlining the process for undergrounding power lines is necessary to protect communities already ravaged by fire, then it’s necessary to protect all Californians by preventing the next potentially devastating disaster,” Valladares said.

Previously, Newsom had written letters sent to Southern California Edison (SCE) and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), urging these utilities to include the undergrounding of electric distribution infrastructure for the fire-damaged communities.

He gave the utilities in question until the end of March.

He said the state is working toward building back a more resilient housing stock and also increasing the state’s response to what have become more intense wildfires fueled in part by climate change.

“California’s electric utilities must be part of the solution to this problem,” he said.

Residents from Pacific Palisades, Pasadena and Altadena said they want to rebuild with hardened roofs and attics and also, with power lines that are underground, not strung on poles. But many are frustrated that there’s not a commitment to undergrounding distribution lines in the fire zones, and that high-tower transmission lines may never go underground.

“In the weeks after the Eaton Fire, SCE (Southern California Edison) was reluctant to discuss anything with the Town Council, including undergrounding.  At some point it was relayed that they could not underground in parts of Altadena where the towers are, or over bedrock,” said Victoria Knapp, chair of the Altadena Town Council in an emailed response.

The Eaton fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures and killed 17 people, nearly wiping out the entire unincorporated community of Altadena in the worst natural disaster in county history.

Numerous lawsuits allege that Edison’s lines were responsible for starting the fire. Edison has said it is looking into the possibility that its equipment was involved. Edison controls the high-tower lines in the Eaton Canyon area, where people suing the utility allege the fire started. The utility did not answer if there were any plans to underground those transmission lines.

In Malibu, dozens of beachfront homes were burned to the ground as a result of the Palisades fire, which destroyed a total of 6,837 structures, including 5,419 homes, 135 multi-family residences, and 158 commercial buildings and killed 12 people.

SCE crews are working to put power lines underground along a 25-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, according to a report on the “Energized” website of Edison International.

In the Palisades, a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, the L.A. Department of Water and Power has reportedly started construction on undergrounding some burned-out areas.

The number of acres in the top two fire zones that must comply with stiffer, fire-safe building codes increased 76% in Southern California areas protected by local firefighters, new state hazard maps show.

The number in the highest tier — the “very high fire hazard severity zone” — increased by 26% in the region.

SCNG Staff Writer Jeff Collins contributed to this article.