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PUC Sunrise pick threatens
Back Country communities
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
BACK COUNTRY — Despite a report from
the California Public Utilities Commission, which states that
the Sunrise Powerlink is, “clearly not needed,” the PUC has
added another possible route for the San Diego Gas & Electric
project.
The modified route D, would plant 125-foot tall conduit
towers along a path that would skirt Cleveland National Forest
land; but travel right through Boulevard, just north of Campo,
Potrero, and then north through Descanso and eastern Alpine.
The report, released by The Division of Ratepayer
Advocates, the consumer wing of the CPUC, says that the Sunrise
project “is clearly not needed to meet any of its stated
objectives, including the critical goal of providing reliable
service in San Diego.
“DRA is not convinced that Sunrise is the best
alternative for meeting such goals — or even that Sunrise’s
benefits will exceed its costs.”
In the beginning, the Powerlink was planned to run
through Anza Borrego Desert State Park. State park officials and
environmentalists objected, and many questioned the need for the
line.
So, in March, the PUC settled on three alternatives — each
running through the Cleveland National Forest. Then national
forest managers objected.
SDG&E’s preferred route for the 150-mile, $1.3 billion
transmission line would not pass through the forest at all. It
starts in the Imperial Valley, where wind and solar energy are
expected to be developed; cuts through the middle of
Anza-Borrego; and ends at a substation near Del Mar.
SDG&E contends the line is needed to ensure regional
electric reliability and allow for the import of power generated
from renewable energy sources.
After the initial project was proposed last year, the
PUC ordered SDG&E to come up with several alternative routes
that would avoid Anza-Borrego.
“They want us to find a route that doesn’t go through
the Anza-Borrego State Park,” said SDG&E representative Nick
Pince.
SDG&E representatives however, have said that any
southern routes are undesirable because they are close to a
power line that has been knocked out of service by fire 23 times
in the past decade.
Many critics have argued that the line isn’t needed in
San Diego, for renewable energy or reliability.
“Anywhere they’re going to do this, it’s just not
needed,” said Sierra Club representative Kelly Fuller, of
Alpine. “All this looking at alternative routes is taking away
from the main focus, which should be exploring alternatives that
don’t require a power line.”
Proposed for completion in 2010, the project would
deliver 1,000 megawatts to the region, or roughly one-fourth of
what it currently uses on the hottest days.
The draft EIR/EIS is expected to be completed in July
of this year. The agencies expect to lean heavily on that report
as they decide by January 2008 whether to issue permits for the
project.
Planning groups in Boulevard, Pine Valley and Campo
have voted to deny the Sunrise project in its entirety,
including all alternative routes. Groups in Descanso and Jacumba
also expressed discontent to the county after presentations
regarding the powerlink.
To see documents and maps regarding Sunrise Powerlink,
and Modified Route D check at your local library, or online
here.
Out of local hands
While local and state officials are discussing the
future of the Sunrise Powerlink, SDG&E is trying to take it out
of local hands, by seeking to include the route as a “National
Interest Electric Transmission Corridor.”
This designation would give federal regulators the
power to step in and overrule the State if the Sunrise proposal
is ultimately rejected.
At a public hearing with Department of Energy
representatives, Supervisor Dianne Jacob argued that this is
just an attempt by SDG&E to do an end run around California’s
transmission line permitting process.
“The Department of Energy should not steal energy
transmission planning from the hands of California stakeholders
and pile on yet another layer of costly, duplicative,
bureaucratic review,” Jacob said. “Instead, the Department
should consider disturbing questions surrounding the case for
the Sunrise, questions that negate the need for the Corridor
Designation for San Diego County.”
Citing a 2006 decision by a three-judge panel, which
determined that SDG&E’s parent company, SEMPRA energy, created
artificial congestion on the region’s existing 500 kV
transmission line, Jacob said congestion claims are suspect.
“Like many others here today, I challenge the
legitimacy of SDG&E’s request and, in turn, question the need
for the designation,” Jacob said.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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