EDITORIAL: Energy Giant's Ad Blitz Missing Mark

5/29/2008 - North County Times
By The North County Times Opinion Staff

We object on principle to what San Diego's power supplier is doing with its admittedly low-budget advertising campaign.

The deceptive, misleading "Your Choice" mini-blitz going on is San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s public relations effort to tout its massive $1.5 billion transmission line proposal dubbed the Sunrise Powerlink.

The campaign is being portrayed as a grass-roots effort; it isn't.

The "choice" is literally painted as one of darkened skies vs. clean air; it isn't.

The blitz implies the decision is resting in the public's hands; it isn't.

And the whole deal is being paid for by all of us; that's normal.

The $45,000 campaign is being pushed by a group, of which the utility, other big businesses and some politicians are all members.

The central issue of the transmission line isn't about clean air; it is about improving service reliability, access of power to the area and the potential for true energy competition.

Sunrise's fate doesn't rest directly with the public but rather its relatively "representative" Public Utilities Commission. The group is continuing Monday's hearing on the proposal today and Wednesday. Its members are appointees named by mostly elected officials, so at best it is long-distance remote representation without any real local control.

And our power supplier isn't bashful about the fact "ratepayers" (as the industry refers to us and yes, we are them) are picking up this meager tab.

We support the transmission line proposal, but we question the need to route it through the Anza-Borrego State Park into the back country. We also believe our power utility has not fully explored options for increasing local production through office, business and residential solar programs.

But most of all, we believe misleading campaigns such as "Your Choice" miss the mark entirely.

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