Anza Borrego Desert State Park Major Threat

© Steve Sieren

Revised Environmental Report Out, Final Decisions Coming Soon

The final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) studying the proposed Sunrise Powerlink was released on October 14.  The final EIR (NOTE: the document is extremely large, and contains multiple sections for downloading)  largely reiterates the same conclusions as were included in the January 2008 draft version.  The 10,000-page document finds that the "environmentally superior" option is not to build Sunrise Powerlink at all and lists several options for increasing energy conservation and encouraging development of renewable energy sources within San Diego County.

The next step in the process is that the Administrative Law Judge, who has been presiding over the Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) permitting process, is expected to release an opinion on the merits of the project by the end of October.  The five-member Public Utilities Commission is expected to render a final decision on whether to approve Sunrise Powerlink and the route of the transmission line, should the project be approved, by the end of 2008. 

About the Sunrise Powerlink

San Diego Gas & Electric is proposing to build a new 500 kV electricity transmission line in Imperial and San Diego Counties, including 23 miles through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Below is the proposed route through the park and an artists rendering of the change to the scenery of this magnificent park.

Click here to see the routes and the proposed towers.

As the Surnrise Powerlink proposal for transmission lines through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park moves through the regulatory process, some encouraging signs have emerged that success for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is far from a slam-dunk. Organizational and citizen activism, including that of the CSPF, has resulted in the issuance of a very strong Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (D/EIR-EIS) that will influence all subsequent proceedings, including the California Public Utilities Commission's granting of a permit to SDG&E.

The D/EIR-EIS, released on January 3, 2008, recommends eight "Overall Environmentally Superior Alternatives" for analysis, starting in order of preference, with the eighth alternative being "no project." The D/EIR-EIS boldly recommends that either all-source or renewable in-area generation—meaning a combination of components such as gas-fired generators, solar thermal and photovoltaics, and biomass/biogas in San Diego County—are both preferable to a transmission line. The D/EIR-EIS goes on to list the LEAPS transmission-only project, which avoids the park, and two other routes that also skirt the park, as all environmentally superior to SDG&E's proposed project, which comes in on the list at #6. Only one alternative is ranked lower.  This is a major victory for the coalition fighting the destructive Sunrise Powerlink project. 

Proposed Routes