REGION: Power line decision looms

CPUC to take up Sunrise project Thursday

By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Tuesday, December 16, 2008 7:48 PM PST ∞

After listening to three years of bitter debate about a proposed giant power line across the North County backcountry, a state regulatory body is set this week to issue a decision that will do far more than determine how the region keeps the lights on.

Also at stake, observers say, is the direction of California's ambitious plan to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and the very manner in which Californians may obtain their electricity in the future.

On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission, the agency that oversees the activities of the state's big urban investor-owned electric companies, is scheduled to meet in San Francisco to decide the fate of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s Sunrise Powerlink.

The firm wants to string a $2 billion, high-voltage transmission line between El Centro in Imperial County and metropolitan San Diego.

Much of the state's campaign to curb global warming centers on a plan to shift the source of one-third of California's electricity from fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal, which pump huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, to green, carbon-free sources such as the sun and wind.

And SDG&E's Sunrise Powerlink could be the first of many transmission lines strung between California's cities and its sun-drenched deserts, as part of a new green rush, industry experts say

At the same time, environmentalists and others say the state is at an electrical crossroads, with an opportunity to continue building power lines ---- and keep customers tightly tethered to utility companies ---- or move toward a new future where people produce the power to cool their houses on the roofs of those homes.

Locally, Sunrise Powerlink has been one of the most fiercely contested construction projects in county history. The Public Utilities Commission produced an 11,000-page report examining the project's potential environmental and community impacts ---- a record for a California power line.

A southern route

On the eve of the long-anticipated decision, indications are that the original Sunrise Powerlink proposal ---- a 150-mile-long high-wire act through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Ranchita, Santa Ysabel, Ramona and Rancho Penasquitos ---- will be set aside.

Under agency rules, commissioners must base their votes on so-called proposed decisions penned in advance by an administrative law judge or fellow commissioners. There are three such proposals on the table, and each would reject the utility's preferred northern route.

A law judge recommended killing the project outright.

Two commissioners recommended authorizing a 123-mile power line along an alternate southern route that roughly follows the Interstate 8 corridor and arcs around Anza-Borrego.

Known for its brilliant spring wildflower displays and bighorn sheep, the state park became a central issue in the debate. At 600,000 acres, it is one of the nation's largest state parks. Much of it is protected wilderness without roads, power lines or other signs of man.

"We've got the champagne ready, but we're not popping the cork yet," said Diana Lindsay, vice president of environmental affairs for the Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute, and author of several books about the park.

Still, Lindsay said, "We feel pretty confident that the northern route is out of the question and we will be able to celebrate with relief, when the decision comes in, that the line will not be going through the center of the park."

Other opposition groups, including the Sierra Club and Mussey Grade Road Alliance of Ramona, aren't close to celebrating; they oppose the power line in any form.

They say high-voltage wires and their associated metal towers, wherever built, would unnecessarily harm wildlife and backcountry communities.

They also contend that the local utility could, and should, rely on solar panels on the roofs of local warehouses and big-box retail stores, instead of wires, to increase the region's power supply.

The green connection

SDG&E and its supporters, many of them San Diego business leaders and area politicians, initially maintained that a southern route was unworkable, because it would follow an existing high-voltage line for 35 miles and a wildfire could knock out both.

But in recent weeks, they have thrown their support behind the southern route, as it appears to be the only pathway to potential approval.

Andrew Poat, vice president of public policy for the San Diego Regional Economical Development Corp., which backs the line, said, "This is about being able to keep our companies operating and our homes lighted, and to be able to do it with renewable energy ... in the near term and not 10 years from now."

From the get-go, the debate swirling around Sunrise Powerlink has been about more than keeping the lights on ---- it's been about whether wires strung from 150-foot-tall metal towers spread from El Centro to San Diego County's cities are the best way to plug into green power and help the region do its part to curb global warming.

As a byproduct of California's nation-leading campaign to slash greenhouse gas emissions, the state's big three utilities ---- SDG&E, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. ---- are scrambling to meet a 2010 mandate to procure 20 percent of their power from green, renewable sources. And thanks to this month's adoption of a state plan to implement a 2006 law, that requirement will jump to 33 percent by 2020.

Against that backdrop, utilities are rushing to string new wires to bring in wind power from the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles and solar power from the sunny Imperial Valley.

SDG&E contends Sunrise Powerlink is its most practical way to tap Imperial Valley sun.

Because the project would connect the coast to the Imperial Valley, the two commissioners who offered proposed decisions both recommended approving a line to the south.

But they disagreed on how to do that.

Commissioner Dian Grueneich proposed conditioning approval on SDG&E meeting a series of deadlines for putting green power on the line, while commission President Michael Peevey recommended the project be approved without conditions.

In a two-page letter sent to all five commissioners Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been on record supporting the project for several months, urged that Peevey's proposal be adopted.

Project opponents say they don't understand the fuss surrounding conditions for guaranteeing delivery of green power, and not fossil-fuel power.

"If that is truly the purpose of this line, then I don't see why SDG&E would have any issues with that," said Laura Copic, a Carmel Valley woman who opposes the line, no matter where it goes.

Dozens of opponents and supporters alike are lining up to speak at a 9:30 a.m. Thursday hearing in San Francisco the commission plans to hold on the project. Given the huge amount of interest and the likely lengthy comments, agency spokeswoman Susan Carothers said there is a strong chance the meeting will be continued to Friday, with the decision coming then.

The meeting may be monitored via the Web at www.cpuc.ca.gov.

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