Governmental agency withholds stance on Sunrise

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Friday, November 17, 2006 10:41 PM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO -- A regional board that represents San Diego County's 18 cities and its county government decided Friday not to take a stand on the controversial Sunrise Powerlink transmission line, at least for now.

The San Diego Association of Governments board voted 16-0 to stay neutral until the California Public Utilities Commission publishes an analysis in August about the need for the project and its likely impact on the community and environment.

The commission is expected to decide whether to grant San Diego Gas & Electric Co. a license to build the 150-mile power line by January 2008.

The utility, which provides electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County, has asked the association to endorse its $1.3 billion project. But after spending months studying the issue, an association committee -- the energy working group -- recommended that it was premature to endorse or oppose the project. Group members said they didn't believe there was enough information on which to base a decision.

"You'd be buying a used car without knowing the make and model," said Paul O'Neal, energy group member and public policy chairman for the San Diego North Economic Development Council.

While the board bowed to the economic group, board members said it was important to make a decision at some point.

"Let's not bury our heads in the sand," said chairman Mickey Cafagna, Poway's mayor. "We will have to answer for not addressing the needs of the million people who are coming to our county."

According to association projections, the San Diego region's population will grow from 3 million to 4 million by 2030.

Board member Matt Hall, a Carlsbad councilman, said that while it is important to learn the community and environmental issues before taking a position, it is important to recognize that there is a cost associated with not having an adequate supply of electricity.

"If the lights go out, I'm sure that this board is going to be one of the first places where people are going to go looking for answers," Hall said.

Proposed for completion in 2010, the project would deliver 1,000 megawatts to the region, or roughly one-fourth of what it currently uses on the hottest days. A megawatt is the standard measuring unit of electricity and is generally enough to keep the lights on in 750 to 1,000 homes. But much more energy is needed during the summer.

The utility maintains that the region needs extra power to avert a shortfall early next decade.

The San Diego-based utility also maintains the project is needed to start developing solar and geothermal power near the Salton Sea in Imperial County. Under a new state law, the San Diego utility and other California utilities must obtain at least a fifth of their electricity from nonfossil fuel sources beginning in 2010.

The project is backed by business groups and officials in San Diego and southern Orange counties. Orange County supervisors endorsed the project Tuesday.

Sunrise Powerlink is opposed by many in the communities where the line would cross, including Ramona, Santa Ysabel, Rancho Penasquitos and Carmel Valley. It is also opposed by environmental groups who do not want the wires to cross Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Opponents do not dispute the need for more power and the need to wean the region off fossil fuels, but they maintain there are less destructive options, such as building power plants in San Diego County.

One opponent, Sierra Club member Kelly Fuller of Alpine, urged the board to take no position even though half its members had endorsed the project on their own. Fuller read a list of those members, which included Cafagna, Escondido Mayor Lori Pfeiler and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.

Fuller also called attention to the high rate of asthma among Imperial County children, who could suffer if the power line spurs construction of a soot-producing power plant in Mexicali, Mexico, just across the border.

Sempra Energy, owner of one of two Mexicali plants, has consistently maintained it has no plans to build more generators.

Joe Maruca, an Imperial County supervisor who opposes Sunrise, said, "We're concerned. We can't take any more bad air."

-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.

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