State Parks Chief Decries Power Line Proposal
By Janet
Wilson
Los Angeles Times
September 7, 2006
California's state parks director this week issued a blistering critique of
a proposed power line through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, saying it
"would forever change the character of this pristine park" and "set a
dangerous precedent that would mean that state park lands … are merely held
… until such time as they may be needed by private developers or utility
companies."
The comments by Ruth Coleman were submitted in response to San Diego Gas &
Electric Co.'s request to the California Public Utilities Commission for
permission to run a 150-mile power line through parts of Imperial and San
Diego counties, including a 23-mile stretch across the desert park, the
state's largest.
Coleman concluded that the utility had favored the cheapest, quickest route
through state public lands rather than examining environmentally superior
alternatives outside the park.
Christy Heiser, a San Diego Gas & Electric spokeswoman, said the
$1.3-billion power line was needed to send about 1,000 megawatts to 650,000
customers in San Diego County.
She said the utility had no choice but to run the lines through state land.
"In order to go west … and bring in this line, there's basically two miles
between the Mexican border and the Riverside County line that is not a state
park," she said. "Essentially, that is our only option."
Parks department attorney Brad Torgan said the utility already had a right
of way through a portion of the park but was now "trying to stray into
wilderness areas … and to expand the width of their right of way."
In her statement, filed Monday with the utilities commission, Coleman wrote:
"The impacts that this project would have on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park,
the jewel of California's State Park System, and California State Wilderness
are large and, in our estimation, unmitigable…. Wilderness is meant to be
forever, and is not open to the developments of man."
Those effects, she and others said, would include wrecked views for visitors
and lost habitat for species such as the desert bighorn sheep and golden
eagles.
Heiser said the utility first built power lines in what is now the state
park in the 1920s, and was trying to stay roughly within its existing rights
of way for the project while negotiating with park officials.
"We're aware of their concerns and will continue to work with them," Heiser
said.
She said proposed solutions included putting pylons in front of mountains so
they blended into the background, and building one tower to replace every
two existing towers, halving their number in the park.
But Coleman said in her written comments that the offer didn't make sense,
because the new towers would be twice as big.
Heiser said the route would also allow the utility to buy and transmit power
from a solar facility in the area to help it meet a new state law requiring
that 20% of all power come from renewable sources.
In Ramona, a public hearing on the proposal will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday
in the Charles Nunn Performing Arts Center of Olive Pierce Middle School,
1521 Hanson Lane.
Parks
officials question impacts of SDG&E plans
San Diego Union Tribune
By J. Harry Jones
September 7, 2006
For the first time since SDG&E's controversial Sunrise Powerlink was proposed, the California Department of Parks and Recreation has expressed grave concerns about the $1.3 billion transmission line, part of which would run through the heart of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
In a statement sent to the California Public Utilities Commission, the entity that will eventually approve or deny the power company's proposal, Ruth Coleman, director of the state's Department of Parks and Recreation said she hoped alternative routes would be considered.
“State Parks has serious concerns regarding the Sunrise Powerlink project, as currently proposed. The impacts that this project would have on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the jewel of California's State Park System . . . are large and, in our estimation, unmitigable,” Coleman said in the statement. “We ask that the California Public Utilities Commission request that (San Diego Gas & Electric) design and examine feasible alternatives that would bring the proposed transmission lines to San Diego by a route that goes around Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.”
Virtually every environmental group connected to the park has strongly opposed the transmission route. As proposed, the 500-kilovolt line, with towers at least 120 feet high, would run for 23 miles across the center of the park along the same path as an existing much smaller line.
“The scale of the proposed project dwarfs the existing transmission line in size and magnitude of environmental impact to Anza-Borrego,” Coleman wrote.
“State Parks concludes that the proposed project is not compatible with its goals, objectives and mandates. This project does not provide a net benefit to (the park), and would forever change the character of this pristine park and wilderness area.”
The letter is one of hundreds sent to the commission as it prepares to undergo a yearlong review of SDG&E's plans.
The first hearing on the project is scheduled for Wednesday in Ramona, and a large and vocal crowd of opponents is expected. The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Charles Nunn Performing Arts Center at Pierce Middle School, 1521 Hansen Lane.
Under SDG&E's proposal, the Sunrise Powerlink would stretch from Imperial County across Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and a host of North County communities. The line would be put underground through Rancho Peñasquitos and near Ramona, the most populous areas of the proposed route.
The utility said the line would be needed by 2010 to ensure reliable electricity and to transport energy from renewable electricity projects planned in Imperial County. SDG&E has launched an aggressive advertising campaign touting the need for the project.
Opponents of the power line contend it is unneeded and would be environmentally damaging. They say a better solution would be to build more generation capacity within San Diego County, primarily by renovating the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista and the Encina Power Station in Carlsbad.
J.
Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579;
jharry.jones@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20060907-9999-1mi7powlink.html
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State Parks Critical of Powerlink By Andy Killion- 9/6/2006
The department filed a letter with the California Public Utilities Commission stating that there are “substantial deficiencies” in the power line’s environmental assessment. The letter was released Sept. 5. “After now having the opportunity to review the (environmental assessment), … State Parks concludes that the (Powerlink) is not compatible with (the department’s) goals, objectives and mandates,” said the parks department in its protest to the CPUC. SDG&E’s proposed Sunrise Powerlink is a 120-mile transmission line that would provide 1,000 megawatts of energy from renewable sources — enough energy for 650,000 homes — by 2010. According to the Department of Parks, the proposed path for the line would “bisect the heart of the Anza-Borrego Desert.” Parks and Recreation has found seven areas of concern with the transmission line: the inadequacy of alternatives analysis; land-use impacts; impacts to state wilderness; impacts to visual resources; impacts to biologic resources; impacts to recreational resources; and impacts to cultural resources.
“We’ve been working with them over a year,” said Christy Heiser, a
spokeswoman for SDG&E. “We’re aware of their concerns and we want to
continue to work with them to come up with viable options that we’re
both happy with.” SDG&E is a regulated energy utility and is a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy. Sempra is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SRE and closed Sept. 5 at $49.14, down 56 cents from the Sept. 1 close.
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