Powerlink ruling sets SDG&E back by months
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
A proposal to string a giant power line through the North County backcountry suffered a major setback Tuesday when a state commissioner applied the brakes to the project's approval process because of questions about the line's environmental impacts.
As a result, it is a near certainty that San Diego Gas & Electric Co. won't be able to complete its superhighway of electricity by 2010, as it had hoped, the commissioner stated. And observers suggested that the development spreads a cloud of uncertainty over whether the project even will be approved.
In a 17-page ruling, California Public Utilities Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich extended from Aug. 3 to Jan. 8 the deadline for completing an analysis of the project's environmental impacts and set a June 6, 2008, target for the final report.
As a result, a commission decision on whether to grant permission to build the $1.3 billion, 150-mile transmission line between El Centro and San Diego that was anticipated in January won't come until late next summer, at the earliest.
"I do this with great reluctance and regret," the commissioner wrote. "It is with reluctance because our staff has worked so hard to keep the schedule in this proceeding on track. It is with regret because SDG&E could have avoided this delay."
Caught off-guard, utility officials maintained that they have been cooperative and forthcoming at every stage of the project review process that has gone on for a year.
"We are disappointed and we disagree with the commissioner's decision to delay the project," said Stephanie Donovan, a spokeswoman for San Diego Gas & Electric. "We are a little surprised at the way that this has been characterized."
In her ruling, the commissioner stated that more time is needed to evaluate new information that surfaced in San Diego hearings this month. Grueneich placed the blame for the delay squarely on the shoulders of San Diego Gas & Electric officials, saying they had waited until the hearings to reveal information that should have been made available months ago.
The ruling came less than a week after the utility disclosed it had made mistakes in calculating the financial benefits that the power line would deliver to its 1.3 million residential and business customers in San Diego County and southern Orange County, and to other ratepayers around the state. On Friday, after accounting for the mistakes that stemmed from faulty assumptions about power plants and math errors, San Diego Gas & Electric downgraded its estimate of the annual economic benefits that Sunrise would deliver, from $204 million to $129 million.
The latest figure is little more than one-fourth of the utility's original estimate of the line's economic benefits, which were first pegged at $447 million a year.
Grueneich said the utility also has been slow to provide information about imperiled flora and fauna in the project's path.
"SDG&E could not have been prepared for the second bomb dropped today by the CPUC," said Michael Shames, executive director for the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a San Diego consumer advocacy group that opposes the power line, in an e-mail note.
Another opponent, David Hogan of the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, suggested in a telephone interview that the one-two punch could have serious implications for the project's fate.
"The bottom line is that the entire decision has been delayed until next summer," Hogan said. "This is a major blow to San Diego Gas and Electric."
Ramona activist Diane Conklin, who also opposes the project, welcomed the ruling.
"We still may not know how bad this project is. We haven't plumbed its absolute depths," Conklin said. "Just this last week, its economic savings to the consumer fell apart. What's going to happen next? This is a sad soap opera. Stay tuned."
The change in the economic estimate led the state commission to cancel the San Diego hearings. The hearings are tentatively scheduled to resume Monday in San Francisco, but Grueneich on Tuesday hinted that they may not start up until later. Grueneich termed the economic errors "potentially serious."
In delaying the ultimate commission decision, Grueneich said she is not worried that the lights won't stay on if the project isn't up and running by 2010.
The utility stands by its claim that the region could face a shortage if the power line is not ready by then.
"If we don't have the Sunrise Powerlink, that means we're going to have to look at other alternatives, such as building additional peaking units," Donovan said. "That means it is going to be more difficult, if not impossible, to meet our renewable goals."
The utility faces a 2010 state mandate to boost the share of its total supply from solar, wind and other renewable, nonfossil-fuel sources of power to 20 percent.
As for the new information that surfaced, Grueneich said that included a desire to design Sunrise Powerlink so that it could be expanded. Grueneich said the revelation changes things because the environmental study must take into account the impacts of potential expansions.
Opponents, who have long contended the utility's long-range goal is to build a bridge to the giant service area of Southern California Edison to the north, suggested Tuesday that the expansion desire is evidence of that goal.
Disagreeing, utility spokesman Scott Crider said the company just wants to leave its options open. He said a future expansion could entail a connection to Edison, but it could also mean building a second line into San Diego.
-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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Robert wrote on Jul 24, 2007 5:01 PM:Good! A real boondoggle at the least. Routing such a meandering path is obscene! Why not leave Anza-Borrega in its present condition. Following Interstate 8 would seem to be much shorter! Solar power is the answer not massive, invasive towers and power lines.
GO SOLAR wrote on Jul 24, 2007 5:33 PM:Don't rely on the goverment or SDGE to promote solar, they never will, it is not in shareholder interests. Cut your home consumption and go solar. $12,000 out of pocket, pays for itself in 10 years or so.
fikshun wrote on Jul 24, 2007 8:37 PM:Yay! It's nice to see a victory, or at least stay of execution, for the environment for a change! I agree with Go Solar. If you want access to more electricity, consider purchasing solar. Don't let corporate greed destroy the beautiful back country areas around Santa Isabel and Julian.
WAY TO GO!! wrote on Jul 24, 2007 11:24 PM:Whoopee! Yahoo! Hooray! Stop that blightful obsenity! SDGE LIED and lied, and lied about this project. It's about time someone figured that out! Save our back country! YAHOO!!
Escondodo wrote on Jul 25, 2007 3:27 AM:As a local permanent resident, I would like to advise SDG&E that we are not your stepping stone. You have made your arguments and they are not convincing. Once valuable environmental resources have been compromised it is difficult to turn back. YOU need to understand that 'power' has more than one definition. WE fully intend that you understand ours before we buy yours.
BOB wrote on Jul 25, 2007 6:05 AM:Powerlink is an anti-environment, pro-consumption, boondoggle of epic proportions. It should be fought at every turn. SDGE is looking for profit not progress.
tired wrote on Jul 25, 2007 6:43 AM:we are tired of the SDGE and Sempra lies. First the power crisis that sent business packing for other states and now this attempt at ripping off San Diego ratepayers so that Sempra can make a buck selling to the inland empire. Why would anyone believe these people now?
Vista Granny wrote on Jul 25, 2007 6:57 AM:Good! There's something a bit "old fashioned" about this whole idea. Ugly and it would destroy the splendor of the desert and mountains. Asking present home owners (not all of whom have the money or the pay back time) to install solar panels is not the answer. Rather, than that, let's require every new home built have it's own solar power source. We have to hold down population growth and force conservation. Good way to start.
slappy wrote on Jul 25, 2007 7:17 AM:I gotta laugh, you people would rather have powerplants belching out toxic steam in downtown Escondido (Palamor plant and Ice flow plant, Along with the three other gas turbine peak shaver plants that are all in service) Than build a powerline in the wastelands. I love it. Be carefull what you wish for cause it looks like your gonna get it. look to the south every morning and enjoy the 15000 foot tall clouds of steam loaded with heavy metals and benzine. But thats ok the desert fly maggott has been protected. Have fun at your kids soccer game
City gal wrote on Jul 25, 2007 9:14 AM:It's nice to see that there is integrity at the CPUC after all. "I gotta laugh" at slappy who actually believes that renewables are only available in the desert and that the Powerlink is the only way to get them. Local peakers and distributed generation can also be renewable AND they are much more efficient than 150 mile extension cord which would likely have accessed Sempra's fossil fueled plants for the most part anyway.
tree hugger wrote on Jul 25, 2007 10:22 AM:I for one am looking forward to healthy debate with sound facts. If this delay gets to the truth then I'm all for it. The anti-SDGE and Sempra sentiment is not healthy debate but rhetoric. We can go on bashing them all day and still be at the same place. NO WHERE! Get on with it. We have renewable resources available, all we need to do is find a way to use them that we can all live with. They have at least put out a plan that will allow them to meet the CPUCs mandate of 20% renewables by 2010. What's yours?
get real slappy wrote on Jul 25, 2007 10:25 AM:SDGE is a private company with one goal, and one goal only, maximizing profits for shareholders. Fair enough, but do not do it by raping out "wastelands" Your lack of maturity is clearly demonstrated by the irrelavent comments in your post. GROW UP
SDGE is cramming it down our throats wrote on Jul 25, 2007 10:27 AM:Why? because they want to corner the market on power in San DIego before renewables start impacting shareholder profits. SDGE makes max profit by selling fossil fuel generated electricity.
Denis T. wrote on Jul 25, 2007 10:31 AM:Slowly we turn, step by step, inch by inch.......... It doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to figure out that Reliability won't come from the construction of a 150 mile transmission line through our beautiful Backcountry. We don't need another transmission line in North or South County Inland. Better Reliability comes from in basin generation and in basin renewables. We also need to conserve energy. The sun does shine in San Diego! Hey, through a massive marketing effort, many Californians have stopped smoking. Now we need to educate these same Californians to conserve energy. Let's do it California! Goliath is staggering, but they won't stop their efforts to get into the Greater LA Basin marketplace. That's what this is all about. It's not about San Diego.
Singing Hawk wrote on Jul 25, 2007 10:40 AM:There's been a lot of scientific info presented to refute the SDG&E's lies and they're available on line in the form of comments to the Scoping Report. We do not NEED the "Sunrise" project to get renewable - simply upgrade the present lines. Their deceptions started in their CPUC application, pretending "Sunrise" is a stand-alone project, when it's one segment of their planned and mapped master project from Mexico to LA - rape San Diego to sell power to LA - ratepayers, property owners, businesses and residents pay. SDG&E profits. NOW maybe CA law will stop this outdated, disastrous emf-spewing monster in its tracks.
Brace yourself wrote on Jul 25, 2007 1:45 PM:Cynic that I am, I expect that we'll be experiencing artificial power "shortages" the next few years in an effort to drive this forward. Hopefully the CPUC will be watching this area's power supply like a hawk. I think that we do need additional power here, but I sure don't want to see Borrego damamged to get it here. I'm with Tree Hugger in that we need to have a good debate with all the facts.
Slappy wrote on Jul 25, 2007 2:36 PM: Your lack of maturity is clearly demonstrated by the irrelavent comments in your post. GROW UP... .To that I say... Don't be hating on me just because I was Mature enough to start buying SDGE stocks in the 70's and now I have over 40 thousand shares. As far as I am concerend they could build one giant K-Mart out there in your majestic dump of a desert. You need to grow up San Diego needs the power. either we import it or we generate it ...
Realist wrote on Jul 25, 2007 2:58 PM:I feel sorry for all of you people who think every corporation is out to rape the people and land. Out of the tens of thousands of corporations, only a small percentage of corporations have negatively impacted our lives. The word corporation is not a dirty word. Shareholders is not a dirty word. The truth is that people rape the land. There is nothing special about corporations. Individuals litter. Individuals dump their motor oil. Individuals throw lit cigarettes out their windows. Corporations are big and their impacts seem worse, but per capita, most corporations have a much smaller impact on nature then groups of individuals would acting alone. This sentiment that we should all buy solar panels to get "off the grid" is a good idea, but you will be buying your solar panels from a corporation most likely. Most corporations bring us prosperity, technology, and higher quality of life that otherwise would be very difficult to get on our own. Try building a home, car, or even a bicycle without a corporation involved somehow. Try running a steel mill or rubber plant outside the context of a corporation. The pooled resources that corporations have are superior to individuals begging for money from the government or the rich. It's not a testament to how invasive corporations are, it's a testament to how successful an efficient use of resources (capital and labor) can be when taken out of the hands of command control society like kings and autocrats.
Anti Everything wrote on Jul 25, 2007 3:54 PM:There is no type of renewable energy that will provide for the future energy needs of San Diego that will be OK with the environmental activists. They are going to fight hammer and tongs for every little bit of grass, shrub, hill, and creek, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Maybe we need the powerlink. Maybe we don't. SDG&E is no saint, but they also have been providing us reliable electricity for as long as I can remember. And jobs. And return on investment. How about some honest debate, not all the capitalism bashing!!!
Ysabella wrote on Jul 25, 2007 4:40 PM:OK, now we can all see that greed motivates people to actually want to destroy what's left of the beauty in San Diego - our deserts, mountains, valleys, wilderness areas, communities and sensitive habitats and take other people's private property. It's all about stockholder profits, after all - not about the best energy sources for our county. The brutal truth is that SD does not NEED Sunrise to meet our energy needs. That's just SDG&E propaganda pure and simple and of course we would expect nothing more ethical from their stockholders. It's disgusting.
Mark wrote on Jul 25, 2007 5:12 PM:I can't believe someone said "SDG&E is no saint, but they also have been providing us reliable electricity for as long as I can remember". I guess you're 5 yrs old, since you can't remember the energy crisis, which involved criminal actions by Sempra (owner of SDGE)
Slappy wrote on Jul 25, 2007 6:34 PM:SDG&E is one of the best companies to manage the back country. They have more scientist and ecologist working to preserve nature than any other company in San Diego. They also own more land in San Diego than anyone else, and they have crews that work in very sensitive ecoligolical areas every day to maintain the existing lines. So I think that they know how to build a little ol power line without hurting any plants or animals. So what is the problem? Just a handful of folks who are afraid of progress.
Yeah slappy wrote on Jul 25, 2007 9:53 PM:the same old song and dance is not progress. Renewables are here and now. I went self suffecient for 11k dollars, and produce enough extra power to recharge an electric car. That is progress. wake up and get real. Nobody said that any corporation was evil, just that they place shareholder priorities before the publics (as they should) it is the publics duty to push back and stop the exploitation. I don't buy the arguement, "trust us, we have warm fuzzy commercials"
Questioning wrote on Jul 27, 2007 11:13 AM:Slappy's comment about "a little power line". Boy! His sense of relativity must be something huge!
North County Havoc wrote on Aug 8, 2007 9:36 PM:Do you think that 265 MW of In County renewable energy generation from Envirepel Energy's proposed projects will be enough? [Web site]
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