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APG votes to send letter opposing
proposed Sunrise Powerlink
By Susan Hogoboom
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — A handful of local and Back
Country representatives and business people made their voices
heard on Thursday, Sept. 24 at the Alpine Planning Group (APG)
meeting, protesting the construction of the heavily debated
Sunrise Powerlink (SPL).
Members of the Alpine Revitalization Community
Development Subcommittee, co-chairs Mary Kay Borchard and Joseph
Forlenza, presented to the APG for support and approval a draft
of a letter addressed to Michael Niggli, the chief operating
officer with San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). Forlenza called
the letter the “first step” in the subcommittee’s plan of
action, which is, if the proposed route cannot be stopped, to
turn it to the community’s advantage.
However, APG members said that the letter conveyed a
compromising attitude. Considering the tone of the
correspondence to be pessimistic, the APG amended the motion to
read, “To accept the letter as written, following up with a
secondary letter that has more opposition.”
Borchard and Joe Sterling, who is also on a
revitalization subcommittee, spoke to the APG seeking the
groups’ support.
Borchard said that the undergrounded line would
significantly affect the lives of Alpine residents.
“There would be significant degradation to the
businesses and the residences,” she said. She went on to say
that the main artery through Alpine would be “a mess for several
years.”
“We would like to request of you to move and vote your
support of this letter to protect the future of Alpine, its
residences, its businesses, and the community as a whole,” she
appealed to the group.
APG member George Barnet agreed.
“It is a really big project and my personal opinion is,
it’s going to be disruptive,” he said.
Sterling voiced his concerns about pedestrians and
their safety. He said the goal should be “to make Alpine more
safe and comfortable for pedestrians.”
Vanessa Rusczyk is a small business owner along Alpine
Boulevard, where she rents two offices. Rusczyk is a member of
the Protect our Community Foundation and is against the
powerlink.
“Our business is very dependent upon the power running.
We run an online school, so the tearing up of the boulevard
would potentially cost my business thousands of dollars,” she
said regarding potential outages during construction.
Rusczyk said she sees the reasoning behind a letter but
referred to it as “weak.”
“I feel like this letter could be a lot more impactful
in stating we are opposed to this project and how detrimental it
would be to businesses and to the community,” she said.
Rusczyk said the letter should include demands for SDG&E
to meet with the community, business members, school officials,
and residents along the boulevard.
Boulevard Planning Group Chairman Donna Tisdale agreed,
calling the proposed link a “horrible disruption to the
community.” Tisdale is also secretary of the Protect Our
Communities Foundation and co-founder and president of Back
Country Against Dumps (BAD). In 2008, she produced a documentary
about SPL entitled, “A Question of Power.”
“SDG&E should have been here talking to Alpine a long
time ago,” she told the group, adding that route approval
occurred without proper study, surveys, approval from the
Cleveland National Forest, and litigation. She said this leads
her to believe that a current lawsuit against SPL will be
successful.
According to Tisdale; BAD, the Protect Our Communities
Foundation, and the East County Community Action Coalition are
each fighting the installation of SPL.
She stressed community involvement in the opposition
against SPL, which she said she feels is lacking in Alpine.
“You have to stand up for the community. Nobody else is
going to do it for you. You have to do it for yourself, and you
need to do it in a strong manner,” she said. “Where’s the
outrage in Alpine?”
She also accused SDG&E of being motivated by profit.
APG member Greg Fox was the first to point out that the
letter conveyed that community members were “giving up.” And APG
member Scott Tuchman expressed concern that the letter would not
even reach Niggli’s desk. He suggested that a letter, possibly
consisting of five to seven pages with bullet points, be mailed
to Niggli.
The present board members, with the exception of John
Hood, who abstained from the vote, unanimously approved the
amended motion.
While leaving the room, Tisdale offered a suggestion to
the APG.
“Perhaps the [follow-up] letter should come from the
APG to show your community that you are doing something for
them. I think it would be much stronger,” she said.
SPL is a 150-mile long, high-energy power transmission
line. In December 2008 it was approved by the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) and in January 2009, by the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management.
SDG&E claims that SPL will transport greener energy
from Imperial County to San Diego.
SPL’s Modified Route D is proposed to run through Jacumba,
Boulevard, Campo, Descanso and Alpine. Originally, it was
proposed to run through the Anza Borrego Desert Park, but due to
public and environmentalist outcry, the plan was aborted.
Dianne Jacob, chairman of the County Board of
Supervisors is outraged by the proposal. She has accused the
CPUC of ignoring fire safety warnings outlined in the
Environmental Impact Report.
Others in the community have concerns regarding the possible
health risks, such as cancer.
Powerlink letter
The Alpine Revitalization Community Development
Subcommittee’s letter, dated Aug. 31 and approved by the APG on
Sept. 24, reads as follows:
Dear Mr. Niggli:
SDG&E claims our region will enjoy significant benefits
from the Sunrise Powerlink for decades. Many groups, ours
included, disagree, especially in light of what is at risk. The
overhead transmission lines, towers, pulling and substations
will change the landscape permanently. The Southern Modified
Route D with Star Valley option runs through Alpine and
underground along Alpine Boulevard from Star Valley Road to
Arnold Way. For Alpiners, the risks are not hypothetical.
The intent of this letter is, first, to state our
opposition to this project. Second, in the event that opposition
efforts fail, we want to work out how SDG&E will mitigate the
negative impacts of construction on Alpine’s quality of life,
commerce, streetscape, and nature areas, all of which would
endure at best a 2-3 year aggravation.
Nowhere would such pain be more acute than along Alpine
Boulevard (Old Hwy. 80). The daily routines of Alpine and Back
Country commuters, businesses fire and law enforcement agencies,
parents, and school children will be disrupted for the duration
of construction.
And let’s not forget the tourists who will avoid
Alpine’s restaurants, businesses, and historic sites while heavy
equipment is in the streets and noise in the air. It is a
miserable prospect, unless there is something to look forward to
after the dust settles.
If Alpine cannot avoid this sacrifice, which would be
made on behalf of regional power distribution, then justice
demands Alpine be made a better place for it. Our town, the
‘downtown’ for the backcountry communities along 1-8, must
re-emerge stronger for it. If Alpine boulevard is torn up, it
must be put back so that Alpine Village, and the green riparian
ribbons that weave across it, are made more beautiful and
vibrant for it (Alpine Creek and Chocolate Creek). If our
boulevard must endure destruction, let it be creative
destruction.
What would make Alpine a better place? A vision for the
future of Alpine was developed in the 2004-2006 public
engagement process of Supervisor Dianne Jacob’s ongoing Alpine
Revitalization effort. This vision is based on forward-looking
open dialogue among over 50 Alpine community groups from a
combined membership of over 4500 Alpine residents. The vision
includes social, economic, educational, and environmental
elements and offers a scenario of what these might look like if
combined along Alpine Boulevard. These community authored
materials can be a guide for dialogue about how to focus
economic redevelopment to spring board businesses after
Powerlink construction but, more broadly, can guide SDG&E to
leave Alpine better than you found it.
The Alpine Revitalization Community Development
Subcommittee is, as always, looking for ways to collaboratively
realize more of the alpine community vision. We support those
who are actively fighting this project, at the same time, if
construction of the Sunrise Powerlink, while undesirable, is
unavoidable, then we will pursue every avenue we can to make it
a cause for improvement in Alpine.
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