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Governor greeted by protesters
at SRPL groundbreaking party
By Billie Jo Jannen
The Alpine Sun
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District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob, flanked by Donna
Tisdale and Denis Trafecanty, speaks to the crowd of
protesters at the Dec. 9 Sunrise Powerlink
groundbreaking party. Jacob called the project a “Deathlink.” |
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Residents from every community in East County gather
outside the gates of Rough Acres Ranch to protest
the Sunrise Powerlink groundbreaking. The
celebration, they say, is premature in light of
ongoing legal actions. |
BOULEVARD - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was greeted by 150
protesters, including District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob, when
he arrived to bless a Sunrise Powerlink “groundbreaking” party
on Rough Acres Ranch in Boulevard last Thursday.
Though a smattering of Back Country residents who have
publicly supported the project attended the event as guests,
most locals in attendance were outside the gates with signs -
and were sharply denigrated by several speakers at the lavish
party.
Jacob was unimpressed with the event, calling it
“premature” and “insulting” to the communities who will bear the
brunt of the project's impacts if it is built.
“This is not a done deal,” she said. “State and federal
lawsuits are alive and well. We will have our day in court and
the truth will come out.”
While Jacob was speaking to residents and protesters
outside the gate, last minute preparations up the hill included
the setting of gold-clothed tables, abundant food and drink for
the grazing, and the assembly of a host of California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection employees, Imperial County
staffers from various departments and San Diego Gas and Electric
crewmen and security personnel. Sheriff's Deputies were a
high-profile presence, both inside and outside the gates.
Guests hailing from throughout San Diego and Imperial
counties were bused in to enjoy finger food for about an hour
until the governor arrived and the formal addresses began. Lunch
was served to an estimated 200 people after the speeches.
In addition to Schwarzenegger, speakers included Chula
Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, Joe Kennedy, a former Massachusetts
Congressman and current CEO of Citizens Energy Corp., SDG&E
Chairman and CEO Jesse K. Knight, California Public Utilities
Commissioner Dian Grueneich and Imperial County Supervisor Gary
Wyatt. SDG&E COO Mike Niggli served as master of ceremonies.
In addition to Jacob, opponents outside the gate
included Denis Trafecanty, President of the Protect Our
Communities Foundation, Donna Tisdale, President of Back Country
Against Dumps, local tribal members, and residents from Campo,
Potrero, Boulevard, Descanso, Pine Valley, Julian, Warner
Springs, Jacumba, Ramona, Lakeside, El Cajon, Alpine and
Imperial Valley.
“I know there are people who are not happy about this -
there's protests about this,” Schwarzenegger said in his
remarks. “But you've got to look at the bigger picture. It's
inexcusable that it takes five years to build a green-power
line. We've got to build. That's how we become, and how we stay,
an economic power.”
“A lot of people look out there and see this valley and
see the deserts and they see empty space.” Schwarzenegger said.
“I see a gold mine there, a gold mine for renewable energy.”
“California's governor had the nerve to visit this area
during the 2007 firestorms and tell residents he was committed
to fire safety,” Jacob said. “The project's own environmental
document ranks the fire dangers as the highest threat possible.
It can't be mitigated … the governor's support for this line is
hypocritical.”
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Sharing the
podium with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are, from
left, Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt, Joe
Kennedy, CPUC Commissioner Dian Grueneich, SDG&E COO
Michael R. Niggli, SEMPRA Energy CEO Donald
Felsinger, SDG&E CEO Jesse Knight and Chula Vista
Mayor Cheryl Cox. Lunch was served after the
speeches. |
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Jacob pointed out a page in the company's own project
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that showed a miles-wide swath
of high-risk fire zone that would result from the project: “Very
good and very credible firefighters have been silenced by the
politics of the decision. I know this because they've made
contact with my office.”
Jesse Knight CEO and chairman of SDG&E said he is
excited about the “historic change” the project represents and
characterized the existing Southwest Powerlink as inadequate.
“The new project,” he said, will transport electricity “on a
scale never seen before in this region.”
“The renewable energy potential of the East County and
Imperial Valley are nearly unmatched in this country,” Knight
said. SDG&E, he added, plans to become a national leader in
renewable energy and lamented that current infrastructure
includes, “only one - only one - 500 kV connection.” Knight
opined that there is an “acute transmission shortage” in
Southern California.
Kennedy prefaced his remarks with a humorous story to
illustrate that the Boulevard area is a “godforsaken place,”
then went on to describe the project as the first step in
breaking the nation's addiction to foreign oil, as well as a
giant step to combat poverty in Imperial Valley. “On one side of
these mountains, there's some of the richest communities in the
entire world and on the other side of these mountains are some
of the poorest communities in the entire world.”
Kennedy said he wants to take a portion of the profits
from the Powerlink project to provide weatherizing and heating
bill assistance to Imperial Valley residents: “That beautiful
place called Imperial Valley needs the attention of this project
as much as any other community in this country.”
Kennedy - who has been criticized by political
opponents for obtaining most of the fuel for his charity
programs from Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez - did not mention
assistance for Back Country residents, many of whom have asked
to be “part of the solution” via rooftop solar programs.
At a 2008 informational meeting in Campo, SDG&E
spokesmen argued with residents that in-basin distributed
generation, such as rooftop solar on homes, is not financially
feasible in comparison to large-scale infrastructure projects
like Sunrise Powerlink.
Opponents argue that the real problem for SDG&E is that
the financial benefits would accrue to customers, instead of
utilities.
“Solar on San Diego roofs and other clean projects
would put SDG&E out of business,” Jacob opined. “Sempra and SDG&E
have invested heavily in natural gas generation in Mexico. They
need to keep you addicted to foreign oil to get a return on
their investment.”
Imperial County's Wyatt praised the project as a huge
boon to the economy of the area, and said the Imperial County
Board of Supervisors had repeatedly lobbied in Washington, D.C.
and Sacramento to help get the project approved and secure
funding for additional industrial scale projects in Imperial
Valley.
“We have an abundance of great resources and we want to
produce a great new industry.” Wyatt added that he wants
counties, rather than state and federal authorities, to do the
permitting for big infrastructure projects because it would be
“faster and cheaper.”
Wyatt was openly contemptuous of project opponents,
remarking, “I've met some great people and I've met some people
that I will never want to meet again. Some of them are out there
on that road,” he said with a dismissive gesture. “And they'll
be in my chambers Monday when we talk about another project that
they might not like.”
No ground was actually broken at the Boulevard site -
work on federal lands is halted until a decision is rendered on
a federal lawsuit - but work was started on the underground
portion of the project on Alpine Boulevard last week. The
117-mile transmission line is projected to travel through
deserts, mountains, and rural communities between Imperial
Valley and San Diego.
Ongoing lawsuits prohibit the company from starting
Back Country work on public lands until they are resolved,
Tisdale said. The current lawsuit, filed in federal court,
alleges a number of legal and regulatory violations in the
Bureau of Land Management approval of the Sunrise Powerlink
route through its lands.
According to Tisdale, the finishing touches are being
put on a second federal suit against U.S. Forest Service for its
approvals, and for rewriting its new land use plan to allow the
project to run through roadless areas. A third suit in state
courts is also in the offing, she said.
“I was deposed by SDG&E attorneys for about seven hours
on Monday,” Tisdale said. “There are also outstanding permits,
including a Clean Water Act permit from the Corps of Engineers
to cross many streams and washes.”
Please see The Alpine Sun's Powerlink page for regular
updates on the project.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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