Power Trump Card Upheld

3/6/2008 - North County Times
By Dave Downey - Staff Writer

Federal officials leave intact Southern California electric corridor

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. still has its ace in the hole after the federal government said Thursday that designated energy corridors on the west and east coasts will remain in place.

Widely anticipated, the decision means SDG&E can play that ace in the event the California Public Utilities Commission refuses next summer to approve its $1.3 billion, 500-kilovolt Sunrise Powerlink transmission line.

Last fall, the U.S. Department of Energy designated "national interest electric transmission corridors" in two of the nation's most heavily populated regions, saying Southern California and the New York-Washington corridor are vulnerable to power outages.

The Department of Energy affirmed that decision Thursday after being asked by environmental groups and property owners to take a second look.

The decision means that should the state reject the Sunrise project, the utility, citing the energy corridor designation, can petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as early as October to step in to approve it.

The energy agency said its review found plenty of evidence to support its earlier conclusion that bottlenecks in Southern California's power grid threaten to prevent enough electricity from reaching homes during times of heavy use, such as hot summer days.

The high-voltage line would run 150 miles from El Centro to Carmel Valley, passing through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Santa Ysabel, Ramona and Rancho Penasquitos. Wires would be strung from metal lattice towers as tall as 160 feet.

SDG&E spokeswoman Jennifer Briscoe welcomed the decision.

"Once again, the U.S. Department of Energy has come to the same conclusion that both the California Independent System Operator and the California Energy Commission have come to, that our region has a dangerous shortage of transmission and action needs to be taken immediately to upgrade the electric grid before it's too late," she said.

The decision also has implications for power-line projects in Riverside County and the Los Angeles area. That's because the West Coast corridor covers a wide area stretching from the border to the Tehachapi Mountains.

The corridor takes in seven Southern California counties ---- San Diego, Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, Kern, San Bernardino and Imperial ---- and a portion of western Arizona where power plants are being built.

Diane Conklin, a Ramona activist who has been fighting the Sunrise Powerlink, called the decision "extremely disappointing."

Conklin said she fails to comprehend why the Department of Energy made the corridor so big.

"Seven counties in California and two in Arizona do not a corridor make," she said. "The Department of Energy needs to consult a dictionary."

The energy agency defended the geographical breadth, saying it is consistent with federal law and it was important to include all places where wires might be needed to bring electricity into Southern California cities. The agency maintains there is a need for new lines to tap developing solar, wind and geothermal energy projects across a wide swath of desert that have the potential to light millions of homes.

The size of the corridors aside, the idea of giving the federal commission power to trump a state regulatory agency is troubling, said Bill Corcoran, Southern California regional representative of the Sierra Club in Los Angeles.

"The designation undermines the state of California's ability to develop an efficient, environmentally benign transmission system," he said. "The problem is that FERC doesn't know California."

Corcoran also said the decision sends the wrong message.

"The designation allows transmission-line advocates to shop their projects around," he said.

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