DesertBlog

Sunrise Powerlink Deception in Print and Video — and What You Can Do About It

I did the unthinkable and buried the action item at the end of this post. If you just want to find out about a new action you can take to help stop the Sunrise Powerlink, scroll to the bottom. For comments on yesterday’s hearings and new videos on the Powerlink, read on.

Did you know that the Sunrise Powerlink is not the first transmission line that SDG&E has promised would carry renewable energy? And would you care to guess how well that promise was kept?

Not very well, according to statements by SDG&E vice-president Michael Niggli at Monday’s CPUC hearings on the Sunrise Powerlink. Under cross-examination by the Utility Consumers Action Network’s Michael Shames, Niggli admitted that the Southwest Powerlink, which runs from Imperial Valley along the border into San Diego, currently carries somewhat less than 50 megawatts of geothermal energy. This despite promises by the company when it built the 2000-megawatt line in 1984 that it would be used mainly for renewable energy. At most, Niggli said, the line carried about 240 megawatts of renewable energy for about ten years. So, the company promised us green energy from the Southwest Powerlink, then that line somehow got taken over by the usual fossil fuel supply. Now, when we really need renewable energy, we suddenly need a new line to get it here? Seems an old aphorism applies here, “Fool me once…” (you know the rest). Read more about this aspect of the hearings in this North County Times article.

The San Diego Union-Tribune focused on a different aspect of the hearings, which was Administrative Law Judge Steven Weissman’s pointed — if not harsh — questioning of Niggli. This included questioning how much SDG&E expects to spend just on the approval process for the Sunrise Powerlink. Turns out the projected amount has tripled to $126 million, (payable by ratepayers whether or not the line gets built). The article didn’t mention whether this amount includes the $45 million SDG&E has spent advertising the line in San Diego media this month or the other unspecified amounts the company has spent posting greenwash videos on every video distribution site out there. Another question Weissman asked the SDG&E executive: “why hasn’t SDG&E shown more initiative in encouraging the development of renewable-energy projects closer to home?” Thank you Judge Weissman, that’s a question we’ve all been asking. Niggli’s response was to “downplay the thrust of Weissman’s questioning,” but he did admit that roughly 75 percent of Sunrise’s capacity could be occupied by electricity produced from coal and natural gas (probably foreign).

AND ON THE NEW MEDIA FRONT… 

About those videos: If you go to YouTube and search “Sunrise Powerlink” you’ll find a collection of mostly pro-Sunrise Powerlink pieces. Fortunately, UCAN’s hilarious “Sunrise Powerlink Debate” is at the top of the list. But then there are a slew of short videos features children running through grass and promising clean air for our future. These are particularly galling, since the Imperial Valley will undoubtedly see more pollution as a result of the Powerlink, and the area already has some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the nation. Fortunately hardly anyone watches this greenwash spam. These videos have also been posted to a slew of other video hosting sites, such as revver, Vsandbox, Mixx, and more.

Fortunately, our side is beginning to respond with its own videos. These don’t have the slickness of SDG&E’s campaign, but this just shows what a true grassroots movement we have. Energy and Nature has a link this morning to a video slideshow by a San Diego activist pointing out the faults of the Powerlink in general, and particularly Route D. And I found this one on YouTube this morning, from Peoplespowerlink.org. It’s a GoogleEarth fly-over showing the relationship between the Imperial Valley substation (from which the Sunrise Powerlink would originate, along with the existing Southwest Powerlink) and the gas-fired power plants across the border. (For more on the full truth about Sempra/SDG&E’s “Fossil Fuel Corridor,” go here.)

We should point out that both the peoplespowerlink’s video and the Fossil Fuel Corridor map contend that SDG&E plans to build yet another gas-fired power plant in Mexicali. SDG&E’s Michael Niggli has consistently denied this claim, as recently as yesterday’s hearing. Yet it wasn’t long ago that San Diegans heard Sea World officials denying that they wanted to use an expanded height limit to build a rollercoaster. We all know how that turned out. And then there are SDG&E’s past promises about the Southwest Powerlink. Hmmm…. I wonder if we can trust them now?

RALLY ’ROUND THE VIDEO, BOYS (AND GIRLS)! 

If you’ve already submitted comments on the EIR (click here, if you haven’t commented yet), here’s another action you can take. PeoplesPowerlink has been remarkably bashful in promoting its video, which was posted over a month ago. (And I’m just finding out about it now!?! Come on people, don’t be shy, put the word out there.) Let’s help them out! We may not have $45,000 and slick TV ads, but our power is in numbers, not money. While SDG&E is using old media (and a half-hearted effort with new media) we can use new media to our advantage.

Here’s what to do: Watch the peoplespowerlink video on YouTube, then give it a five-star rating and mark it as one of your YouTube favorites (you’ll need to register with YouTube, or you can use an existing Google account). While you’re there, give a one-star rating to SDG&E’s videos.

Then post or rate Peoplespowerlink’s video on other “social bookmarking” sites such as digg, technorati, etc. Come back here and leave a comment telling us where you’ve posted it, with a link. Then folks can go to that social bookmarking site and vote up the video there.  

For instance, I’ve already posted a link to the video on hugg.com, a green bookmarking site run by Treehugger.com (rated by Time magazine as one of the top 25, and most frequently read, blogs in the world). Click here to go to the hugg link, then click the + sign to give the video a “hugg” (i.e. a vote — again you may have to register). Let’s put Peoplespowerlink on hugg’s front page, where it will get some real attention!