The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power asked the California Public Utilities Commission to suspend consideration of Southern California Edison?s application to build a second transmission line from Devers to Palo Verde. The department said May 16 that it will build the 500 kV line instead of Edison by 2009. LADWP contends that it has the right to construct the line under a contract it entered with the investor-owned utility when the first Devers?Palo Verde line was built in the early 1980s (<i>Circuit</i>, May 6, 2005). While the department told the commission that it expects to resolve the issue quickly through meetings with Edison, it warned that it will pursue the matter in state court as a breach of contract if necessary. Edison said that the two utilities ?are working to resolve the contractual issue? in a May 17 statement. Under the agreement, Edison had the right to begin constructing the line through June 1, 1990, after which the department could assert its right to build the project. Edison had state permission to build the line in the 1990s, the department said, but dropped the project in 1996. Granite Construction also protested the project until it can obtain further information on how it may affect its nearby sand and gravel pit operation.