RAMONA – They came
by the hundreds during a weekday afternoon to express their concerns
about a proposed power line.
Many yesterday carried signs such as “Save our Backcountry” and
“No to Sunrise Powerlink. It's not the need . . . It's the
Greed!!!”
CHARLIE NEUMAN /
Union-Tribune
Richard Zelmer held up a sign opposing a
proposed power line during a meeting on the SDG&E plan at
the Ramona Community Center
yesterday. |
About 400 people attended
what was officially termed a prehearing conference before an
administrative law judge and a commissioner with the California
Public Utilities Commission.
Normally such hearings are held in San Francisco, but at the
behest of hundreds of county residents the commission agreed to move
the meeting to Ramona to take testimony from citizens.
Almost all of them were opposed to San Diego Gas & Electric's
proposed 120-mile, 500-kilovolt power line that would connect energy
sources in the Imperial Valley to San Diego County.
The line and its 150-foot-tall towers could cost SDG&E
ratepayers between $1 billion and $1.4 billion, the company has
said. The line is needed to ensure that the region will have enough
power in the coming decade, the utility says.
“This is very impressive,” Administrative Law Judge Kim Malcolm
said at the beginning of the meeting as she looked out upon the
packed Ramona Community Center. “Normally I don't need a microphone
for these meetings.”
Outside the windows, more than a dozen high school students
chanted and waved signs of opposition for hours.
Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers' Action
Network, said the gathering was the largest he has seen regarding
energy since the power crisis in 2001.
SDG&E officials have not indicated exactly what route the
proposed line would follow, but it appears it would start in
Imperial County and cross the northern backcountry of San Diego
County, cutting through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and possibly
the Cleveland National Forest.
The line could then run through or near numerous communities,
depending on what alternative the power company chooses, including
Julian, Ranchita, Warner Springs and Ramona.
PUC commissioner Dian Grueneich
and Malcolm told the crowd at the start of the session that they
would issue no rulings.
Instead, Grueneich said that by week's end she would post a list
of questions she has about SDG&E's various procedural requests
on the PUC Web site and that the commission would accept comments
and answers until Feb. 17.
After that, Grueneich said that she or Malcolm will rule on
SDG&E's request to proceed with reviewing the need for the
Sunrise Powerlink before the utility submits a final route for the
line.
The power company has asked that the commission rule there is a
need for the power line before it picks a route and begins extensive
and costly engineering research and environmental review.
The commission should rule on that request sometime after the
Feb. 17 comment period is over.
Attorneys for the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological
Diversity criticized SDG&E's request yesterday to delay
revealing a specific route for the power line.
They characterized the request as unreasonably “bifurcating” the
review process and undermining state environmental law.
“Based on the attendance today, you can see (the power line) is
of enormous concern to the people of this county,” said county
Supervisor Dianne Jacob, one of about three dozen speakers.
“I am adamantly opposed to both the project and the process.
. . . This is so massive . . . and beyond the
scope of anything we have seen.
“There are far less obtrusive and less-costly options available,”
Jacob said. “I firmly believe that by working together we can find a
better way.”
Many who spoke talked about the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
and how the idea of a huge power line cutting through its middle is
almost unimaginable.
David Van Cleve, former superintendent of the park, was
impassioned.
“I'm not the only one who believes Anza-Borrego is the most
fantastic place on the face of the Earth,” he said. “The power line
is proposed to go through the heart of the park. People love
Anza-Borrego for its wildness . . . and the landscape
nature of the park that will be destroyed by this power line.”
Several Rancho Peñasquitos residents, concerned about a smaller
230-kilovolt offshoot from the main line that would likely run
through their neighborhood, attended, as did people from many parts
of the North County and numerous environmental organization
representatives.
J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com
