THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, 1935
Posted on 12/21/2002 3:56:22 AM PST by snopercod
Two years of legal wrangling and fact-finding were settled in less than 30 minutes Thursday morning when the state Public Utility Commission rejected a plan by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to run a high-voltage power line through Southwest Riverside County.
Applause and cheers erupted from the crowd at the hearing in San Francisco when the commission voted 5-0 to deny the application, potentially ending a bitter battle between the utility and a grass-roots group that fought to keep the towers out of the region.
If approved, the Valley-Rainbow Interconnect, as the proposed $350 million line was dubbed, would have planted 190-foot towers along a 31-mile route through the Temecula Valley, connecting a Southern California Edison substation near Romoland to a proposed SDG&E substation in Rainbow in northern San Diego County.
The local anti-power line group Save Southwest Riverside County became active shortly after the 500,000-volt power line was first proposed in August 2000. In its two-year struggle, the group enlisted the support of countless residents, three cities, the county, a Redhawk homebuilder and the Pechanga Indian tribe.
Sandy Spooner, co-founder of Save Southwest Riverside County, said Thursday that the collective will of the residents finally triumphed.
"We're ecstatic," Spooner said. "I think it's a great day when a small grass-roots organization can prevail over a utility."
Officials with SDG&E will have 30 days to appeal the commission's decision if the utility desires to do so.
"We're very disappointed in the decision some of the commissioners made today," SDG&E spokesman J.C. Thomas said Thursday.
After the hearing, Thomas said he didn't know if SDG&E would appeal.
"We're going to have to go back and evaluate and determine a course of action to protect our customers," he said.
Utility officials have said the line is needed to ensure electric reliability in San Diego, reinforce the statewide electricity grid and to provide a third route to carry electricity into San Diego County in case one of the two existing routes is interrupted.
But opponents of the line contend it would be used principally as a link in SDG&E's plans to export electricity from power plants in Mexico and San Diego to other parts of the state.
While the opposition group succeeded in its battle with SDG&E, Spooner acknowledged that the fight over the line may not be finished yet and said her group isn't about to let its guard down.
"We will fight this line anytime, anywhere, anyhow," Spooner said. "We've kicked them (SDG&E) out of our town and we'll be here if they try coming back again."
How the decision was made
By denying the application, the commission affirmed an October recommendation by PUC administrative law judge Michelle Cooke, who concluded after weeks of hearings during the summer that the San Diego utility had failed to demonstrate a need for the line. In her report to the commission, Cooke said additional power generation, including the planned 510-megawatt Otay Mesa power plant planned by Calpine Corp., is likely to come on-line and will eliminate the need for the power line.
The unanimous decision to reject SDG&E's application came minutes after the commission voted 3-2 against a recommendation made by Commissioner Henry Duque, who supervised the state's review of the line and said a project like Valley-Rainbow was needed.
Duque said there is too much uncertainty associated with the financing of the Otay Mesa plant to consider it a reliable source of future power generation.
Commissioner Carl Wood told the panel that SDG&E's planning for Valley-Rainbow was inadequate, vague and based on "conjecture."
"(It's) time to send SDG&E back to the drawing board," said Wood, a former longtime Fallbrook resident.
Commission Chairwoman Loretta Lynch said any need for Valley-Rainbow is "speculative" and she urged the commission not to "jump the gun" by approving a project that isn't needed.
"If there's a need for this line, it won't be for many years," Lynch said.
SDG&E has the right to appeal, but after the vote, Commissioner Geoffrey Brown warned SDG&E not to come back exploring any options that would re-direct the line through other parts of the county, including portions of the Cleveland National Forest.
Officials in region react
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Temecula, applauded the ruling Thursday.
"I think the PUC made a good decision," Issa said. "The study that (Save Southwest Riverside County) did showed that this project was premature."
Issa had been fighting to steer the power line away from the Pechanga Reservation and out of populated areas in the valley by securing a power corridor in the Cleveland National Forest.
Murrieta City Councilman Jack van Haaster said the PUC's decision Thursday was a "tribute" to the grass-roots effort that Save Southwest Riverside County put together.
"In today's world of skepticism over whether you can really make a difference, this is an affirmation that with a lot of hard work you can make a difference," van Haaster said. "No matter how much the cities could have screamed, no matter how many lawyers we would have hired, it wouldn't have had the same impact as the individual efforts of SSRC."
Temecula City Councilman Jeff Comerchero said Thursday's ruling by the PUC is "a great Christmas present for the people of Southwest County."
But not everyone was so happy with the ruling. Officials with the Independent System Operator, which operates the bulk of the state's electricity grid, expressed concern.
Jeanne Sole, regulatory counsel for the ISO, said Thursday that the PUC's decision "dooms us to taking piecemeal approaches" to provide for San Diego's electricity needs "until the situation gets critical."
"We're very disappointed in the decision," Sole said. "As a result of the decision, we have some substantial challenges ahead of us to maintain reliability in San Diego."
Contact staff writer Henri Brickey at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or hbrickey@californian.com.
12/20/02
THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, 1935
Once again, the folk of Kalifornia triumph over the greedy industrialists.
It will be up to the Feds. to address the construction of an expanded grid. Very similar to the interstate highway system.
The idea sends shivers through my wallet.
Power lines are an eyesore, and even renewable energy sources like windmills cut birds into teeny pieces, and destroy the pristine California scenery.
Many of the power companies have ties to the declared-enemy state of Texas, which is just another reason to seize their property, level the plants, and sow the land with California Poppies.
California needs a new motto: No Power to the People!
Well...like...organic electricity is OK, isn't it?
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They could buid power plants in Mexico!
Now there is a way that Bush could help!
I guess when power can't move into San Diego without some power company doing something heroic and very costly and that same company increase the price so it is compensated, they will be acused of price gougind. Likewise, if that company just says to hell with it, they will be evil profit mongers who don't care about people's suffering. Yep, businessmen are just plan evil no matter what they do. (/sarcasm)
The future is sometimes so obvious.
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