DesertBlog

California State Parks and the Sunrise Powerlink

Yesterday, I wrote that the State Parks Commission could have no role in the fate of the expensive and unnecessary Sunrise Powerlink. This situation could occur if the transmission line were routed completely within SDG&E’s existing right of way through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, avoiding state wilderness. Turns out State Parks has a different take on the matter.

As reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune today, State Parks general counsel Bradly Torgan says that building a massive transmission line through Anza-Borrego would require an amendment to the park’s general plan, even if the line were to stay entirely within SDG&E’s existing easement. And that amendment could take up to a year, and would require State Parks Commission approval. SDG&E’s Michael Niggli, of course, disagreed. We’ll have to see how (and in what venue) that debate will play out.

Meanwhile, it’s clear that the Sunrise Powerlink presents dumb and dumber choices for Anza-Borrego and desert wilderness: either intrude on state wilderness, creating a precedent-setting de-designation of a wilderness area; or avoid the wilderness, even though doing so requires more and larger transmission towers, creating an even worse blight on the wilderness landscape.

Here’s a better choice: Don’t build Sunrise at all, but pursue the distributed generation options presented in San Diego Smart Energy 2020. The plan is cheaper for ratepayers, more reliable, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 50 percent.