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Hundreds show at Powerlink hearings
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
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Community Open
Houses
SDG&E is
hosting a series of open houses to provide local
residents with more information. SDG&E
representatives will be on hand to answer questions.
Remaining open houses will be held in Alpine on
Tuesday, March 10 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Alpine
Community Center, 1830 Alpine Boulevard; in Imperial
Valley on Wednesday, March 18 from 5 to 8 p.m. at
the El Centro Community Center, 375 S. First Street
in El Centro; and in Jacumba on Wednesday, March 25
from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Jacumba Highland Senior
Center, 44681 Old Highway 80 in Jacumba.
For more information call (877) 775-6818 or check
online at
sdge.com/sunrisepowerlink. |
LAKESIDE — “We do not need this line to meet San Diego County’s
energy needs, now or in the future,” Dianne Jacob, chair of the
County Board of Supervisors, told a crowd of 200 to 300 Lakeside
residents at a Feb. 25 community meeting on Sunrise Powerlink.
In the Lakeside Community Center, about 30 SDG&E
representatives met with local residents in a room filled with
displays of large-scale solar and wind farms, along with signs
that read “Clean Energy” and “Sunrise Powerlink.”
Jacob accused the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) of ignoring fire safety warnings raised in an
Environmental Impact Report (EIR), which concluded that the line
was rated “the highest fire risk possible” and that “fire risk
could not be mitigated.” Jacob added, “Follow the money… Some
public officials supported the line even before there was an EIR
report. Their votes were bought, in my opinion.”
Lakeside residents opposed to Powerlink staged a
protest rally outside and held their own meeting in a room paid
for by Jacob’s office, attracting a much larger crowd and
emotional testimony from area residents wearing stickers that
read “Shame on SDG&E and Sempra.”
Jacob called the CPUC approval of Powerlink by a 4 to 1
vote in December “a terrible sham,” adding, “I consider it one
of the biggest injustices ever perpetrated in this region.”
The Supervisor called the battle a “David vs. Goliath”
fight and urged residents to support legal actions being taken
by the Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN) and the Center
for Biological Diversity.
View a short video of the Lakeside meeting at
HERE,
or watch Dianne Jacob’s comments at
HERE.
 E-mail
the Editor
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