State Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, asked the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday to schedule a hearing in the city of San Diego on the 7,000-page environmental impact report it recently released for the proposed power line through the North County backcountry.

In a letter to Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich, Kehoe said a San Diego hearing should be added to those planned for the end of this month in Ramona, Borrego Springs and Pine Valley.

The report examines in detail the potential impacts of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s proposed $1.3 billion Sunrise Powerlink transmission line. With 500-kilovolt wires strung from metal towers as tall as 160 feet, the line would wind through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Santa Ysabel, Ramona and Rancho Penasquitos on its 150-mile trek from El Centro to Carmel Valley.

"I am concerned that the three sites chosen for public participation hearings do not provide sufficient opportunity for all affected ratepayers to make oral comments," Kehoe wrote. "The bulk of those ratepayers reside in areas that are at least a one- to two-hour drive from the current hearing sites."