REGION: Campaign launched to promote power line

Business group spends SDG&E money on billboards, ads

By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 2, 2008 1:34 PM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- An advertising and public relations campaign financed by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to promote its proposed $1.5 billion Sunrise Powerlink transmission line was launched Tuesday just days before crucial public hearings on the proposal.

The utility-financed group, called the Community Alliance for the Sunrise Powerlink, unveiled a pair of giant billboards that attempt to portray the debate over the line as pitting a dark future of polluted skies fueled by local power plants versus a bright future of blue skies and clean wind power.

Some critics maintain that the campaign deliberately tries to give the impression of grass-roots support for the power line, when it is primarily a coalition of large businesses and local politicians who back the utility's plan. SDG&E spokeswoman Jennifer Briscoe said the company is not hiding behind the group and has always been upfront about the fact that it is a member of the coalition.

The pictured generator is the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista. One of the billboards is along Highway 163, just north of Interstate 805, in Kearny Mesa.

Another one is along Interstate 5 at E Street in Chula Vista, near the South Bay plant. That plant is scheduled to be retired soon, but one of the project alternatives being explored entails construction of additional, natural gas-fired generators.

In a news release, the alliance also said it purchased advertising in newspapers, on radio spots and an Internet site that will run for up to 30 days.

Dubbed "Your Choice," the campaign carries a price tag of $45,000, said Julie Meier Wright, co-chairwoman of the alliance and chief executive officer for the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.

She said she believes it is fair for the ratepayer-funded utility to pay for a campaign advertising a company project.

"I think that if we're going to make infrastructure investments only when we are in a crisis, we are really going to be at a disadvantage as a region," Meier Wright said Tuesday during a telephone interview. "And I think SDG&E is trying to educate the public. I don't think SDG&E is in a conflict by running it."

Michael Shames, executive director for the Utility Consumers' Action Network, said the utility's spending choice isn't illegal but is questionable.

"It's disturbing and irritating that ratepayers are being asked to foot the bill for a faux grass-roots campaign," Shame said.

He characterized the campaign as an attempt to brainwash people into believing the line is needed by stressing its ability to bring in up to 1,000 megawatts of "green power."

Bill Powers, a San Diego engineer and project opponent, maintained the region could obtain much of its electricity from solar panels on rooftops of local businesses ---- without the ugly footprint of 160-foot towers required by the Sunrise line.

Powers called the campaign a "gross misuse of ratepayer funds."

In defending the utility, Meier Wright said the business group was trying to persuade many San Diego County residents to tell state regulators they want the line built.

The campaign comes as the California Public Utilities Commission, the regulatory agency that will decide the fate of the project, is conducting public hearings next week at the California Center for Sustainable Energy at 8690 Balboa Ave., Suite 100, in San Diego.

The hearings that begin at 10 a.m. Monday and continue Tuesday and Wednesday will explore the environmental impact of the project and alternative ways of meeting the county's electricity needs.

SDG&E is proposing to string a high-voltage line from metal towers reaching as high as 160 feet, along a 150-mile path between El Centro and Carmel Valley.

The utility's preferred route would run 23 miles through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and cross neighborhoods in Ramona and Rancho Penasquitos. About 10 miles of the wires would be laid in the ground near homes.

A voluminous environmental impact study released in January found that five alternate projects could meet the region's needs for a 20 percent boost in its power supply.

Those alternatives included new natural gas-fired power plants in San Diego County, an assortment of solar and wind energy projects and a much shorter, 32-mile high-voltage line through western Riverside County and Camp Pendleton.

The report also said laying large sections of the line in the ground or moving it to the south along Interstate 8 would avoid harming the popular Anza-Borrego park.

The utilities commission is scheduled to rule on the line by August.

"We're running out of time to really make the case as a region that we need this power line," Meier Wright said.

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

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