Should the Sunrise Powerlink line traverse a desert park?

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For those of you just tuning in, this is a white-hot issue in its third year of debate. San Diego Gas & Electric in 2005 proposed a 150-mile high-power transmission line that would bring solar energy or other renewable power to San Diego. A worthy goal, given the high cost and planet-warming downside of fossil fuels.

But as proposed, the line would cut through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, one of the state’s most beloved natural areas.

Hmmm. No one would object to that, would they?

The final environmental impact report for the proposed $1.5-billion Sunrise Powerlink transmission line, released Tuesday, reiterates the conclusion of a July draft: that the ‘environmentally superior’ option is not to build it at all and instead add traditional power plants in the San Diego region. Choice #2 would also axe the lengthy mega-volt line but would provide more local electricity via renewable power plants, instead of the fossil-fueled versions.

Choices #3-8 rank various routing and transmission options. The preferred versions, to the south, avoid the Anza-Borrego park. No major surprises there, but even minor zigs and zags in the power line’s proposed path will matter a great deal to the landowners and communities involved. The two paths proposed by SDG&E came in at #6 and #7, environmentally speaking.

The battle to sunset the Sunrise has engaged environmentalists, park visitors, desert landowners, power companies, consumer groups, chambers of commerce and city officials. There were concerts to raise money to fight the project.

At one point, the California Public Utilities Commission accused SDG&E of lying to the commission about an important routing detail [SDG&E said it was a misunderstanding]. And even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got involved and created a stir by writing to a state utilities commission to urge the project’s approval -- and leaving the impression that he was OK with SDG&E’s trans-park routing. [his staff said he didn’t endorse any specific route].

The public record is overwhelming. A first draft, released in January by the utilities commission and the federal Bureau of Land Management, was more than 7,500 pages long, in six volumes. A recirculated draft came out in July. Testimony was heard at 11 workshops and seven hearings, and an additional 900 pages of comments were added to the record.

The CPUC expects to issue a proposed decision on the project itself ‘shortly,’ and vote on the project before the end of the year.

-- Elizabeth Douglass