SoCa's Grid Controversy
For those who are not yet acquainted with the Sunrise Powerlink controversy, know that it is Sempra Energy Utility’s vision of building a 123 mile long transmission line that would begin in Mexico, span Imperial County, California and slice through pristine and protected San Diego County backcountry. By protected I mean Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS) acreage and the State’s Anza Borrego Desert Park all designated for preservation. The Borrego—for the record--is the largest State park in California and the second largest state park in the nation.
This fire stricken southern California region is home to numerous endangered species, including the Golden Eagle and Peninsular Bighorned Sheep, 200 of the remaining 280 reside in the Park. Additionally, the proposed army of giant transmission line structures would be placed within a vital breeding ground along the Pacific Flyway, a migratory bird and wildfowl flight path between Canada and Argentina.
The County, BML, USFS, and Governor’s Office, for instance, support the project.
SDGE, owner of the largest natural gas distributor in the country, markets this project as a “green” initiative, claiming that the proposed $1.7 billion “economic development” project will yield “unparalleled benefits” and “vast sources of renewable energy.” The 500 kilovolt superhighway expects to produce “up to 1,000 megawatts of clean power” by connecting to several solar energy farms and biomass augmented solar troughs proposed for the Imperial Valley in southern California. Forward thinking SDGE has already pre-order contracted for the future procurement of 525 megawatts from these conceptual facilities respectively as well as 60 megawatts from Esmeralda Energy’s existing San Felipe and Truckhaven geothermal facilities. Wind projects such as the Kumeyaay Wind Farm on Campo tribal lands are currently being developed by. All sounds sweet.
Even more interesting than SDGE’s green marketing approach is the fact that in February, 2010 they negotiated the acquisition of pipeline and gas infrastructure assets from El Paso Corporation in northern Mexico, as well as a fifty-fifty joint venture with Mexican state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, (PEMEX). The El Paso assets include a 114 mile pipeline pumping liquid propane from Mexico to a Monterrey facility.
