Civic Report:
Setback for Sunrise Powerlink: Opponents’ appeal proceeds
By Neal Putnam
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — A panel of federal
administrative law judges dealt a major blow to the Sunrise
Powerlink power line project on Tuesday, July 14, when they
ruled that local opponents had standing to challenge the project
and rejected SDG&E’s claim that their appeal was untimely. They
also ruled that SDG&E would have to comply with a new timetable
delaying construction on the project until at least June 2010.
The ruling comes in response to an administrative
appeal filed by powerlink opponents against a decision by the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management approving the project last
January. The ruling is intended to allow for resolution of the
appeal prior to project construction.
So far project opponents have delayed the powerlink
three years beyond SDG&E’s original construction schedule.
According to project application documents SDG&E intended to
bring the powerlink online by July 2010. Following yesterday’s
ruling and considering SDG&E’s past estimates of a three year
construction duration, the powerlink, if it is ever built at
all, is now unlikely to be completed until the summer of 2013.
“This ruling is a major blow to a deeply flawed
project”, said the groups’ attorney Stephan Volker. “Most of the
construction delays have been the direct result of agencies
finding significant fault with this unnecessary power line.”
“The power line should never have been approved in the
first place and now it’s much farther from getting all its
permits or beginning construction”, said Donna Tisdale of
Backcountry Against Dumps. “Each year of delay means less risk
of wildfire, less upset to property owners and communities, and
less likelihood that the line will be extended north through
even more private property to Los Angeles.”
The Sunrise Powerlink is a major new fossil-fueled
electrical transmission line proposed by San Diego Gas and
Electric for construction from the Imperial Valley to central
San Diego County near Poway. Like a dead-end freeway with local
off-ramps, the powerlink would consist of a larger capacity line
to a remote rural area east of Alpine, smaller lines continuing
on to central San Diego, and plans by SDG&E to extend the larger
capacity “freeway” line to greater Los Angeles through
wilderness and communities.
SDG&E’s claims that the powerlink would carry renewable
energy are greenwash — The powerlink would provide a highly
profitable connection between SDG&E parent company Sempra
Energy’s enormous natural gas infrastructure in northern Baja
California and the southern California market. Local renewable
and cleaner energy alternatives are readily available as an
alternative to the powerlink — In 2008, the administrative law
judge presiding over consideration of the powerlink at the
California Public Utilities Commission ruled that local energy
alternatives eliminated any need for the project.
Please visit The Protect Our Communities Foundation web
site to see the ruling:
http://protectourcommunities.org.
The Protect Our Communities Foundation is a
non-profit community organization dedicated to the promotion of
a safe, reliable, economical, renewable, and environmentally
responsible energy future for San Diego County.
http://www.protectourcommunities.org
Backcountry Against Dumps is a community organization
comprising numerous individuals and families residing in the
eastern San Diego community of Boulevard who are directly
affected by the southern route of the powerlink and the
destruction of nearby federal land for inappropriate wind energy
development.
The East County Community Action Coalition (“ECCAC”) is
a coalition of community groups with the common goal of
preserving rural quality of life and natural resources in
eastern San Diego County. www.EastCountyAction.org.
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the Editor
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