Fires spark power-line debate

By: DAVE DOWNEY | Monday, October 29, 2007 2:20 PM PDT ∞

Staff Writer

Nearly crippling San Diego County's electricity supply, last week's cataclysmic wildfires have provided fresh fuel for the debate over whether the region needs a new power line.

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. officials say the fact that the Harris fire raging near the border shut down a major power line from San Diego to Arizona underscores the need for another option for bringing in power. Company officials have proposed a massive transmission line from Imperial County to San Diego.

Opponents of that plan said the massive fires suggest exactly the opposite -- that it would be a foolish mistake to build a new line. In all likelihood, a line built on the proposed route would have been taken out by the Witch Creek fire, the fourth-largest wildfire in California history, opponents say.

A megawatt is the standard measuring unit of electricity, and roughly what it takes to keep the lights on in 750 homes. The utility's service area, which encompasses all of San Diego County and southern Orange County, uses up to 5,000 megawatts on hot summer days.

Earlier, the utility company proposed constructing a $1.3 billion, 1,000-megawatt line known as Sunrise Powerlink, which would run 150 miles from El Centro to San Diego, by way of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Ramona.

The project is fiercely opposed by park lovers, backcountry residents and environmental groups, who say the wires and 150-foot tall metallic towers would scar the landscape and communities. It is supported by the San Diego County business community, which says the additional power is crucial to maintaining a strong regional economy.

If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, which is reviewing the proposal, the line could be completed by 2011.

Jenny Redmond, a spokeswoman for San Diego Gas & Electric, said the existing line from Arizona, a 2,000-megawatt line known as Southwest Powerlink, was out for three days, from Sunday to Wednesday.

"It was in the heart of the Harris fire and suffered severe damage," she said.

Redmond said the utility restored service in the nick of time Wednesday afternoon, literally moments before the region's other major transmission line along the coast tripped off because of the Horno fire on Camp Pendleton.

"When you have fewer options ... it's a precarious situation," Redmond said. "This is a perfect example of what can happen with only two major transmission lines."

There's just one problem with that line of thinking, said Michael Shames, executive director for the San Diego consumer group, Utility Consumers' Action Network. Sunrise would have been knocked out, too, he said.

"The argument that no fires would hit Sunrise Powerlink and Southwest Powerlink at the same time appears to have been breached," Shames said. "Southwest Powerlink was out of commission. Sunrise would have been as well."

Joe Mitchell of Ramona, a consultant and software engineer, agreed.

"It wouldn't have helped in this case," Mitchell said. "The proposed line went through the fire's footprint. It would have been taken out."

San Diego Gas & Electric officials countered that Sunrise could have remained in service and no one can say for sure that it would have been knocked off line.

"It's easy to speculate, but that's all it is -- speculation," Redmond said.

But Diane Conklin, Mitchell's wife and an activist representing a coalition of anti-power line groups, said the very circumstances of Wednesday's narrowly averted, widespread outage underscores the folly in relying too much on transmission lines that import electricity from great distances.

Conklin noted that a major outage almost occurred because the utility came within moments of losing both of its major transmission lines at the same time.

On Wednesday, Redmond said the utility restored Southwest Powerlink less than a minute before the coastal line that supplies power to San Diego County through the San Onofre nuclear power plant tripped off.

Said Shames: "Given the potential for future fires like this that cut San Diego off from the east, the question of whether San Diego wants to build a greater reliance upon importing electricity from our east has to be re-examined. Locally produced power doesn't pose the same vulnerability."

He said he advocates building local power plants and putting solar panels on the rooftops of businesses and homes.

Still, said utility spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan, "having a third transmission line ... would give us a safety net."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.

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