ALPINE — With the soft crackling of energy passing through electrical equipment acting as a backdrop, local, regional and state officials welcomed the start of renewable energy transmission from Imperial County to San Diego.
On Thursday, San Diego Gas & Electric dedicated the Sunrise Powerlink project, a 500 kilo-volt, 117-mile transmission line, at the new Suncrest Substation facility near here. Through the two-hour event, leaders like Gov. Jerry Brown, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt praised the success of the completed project.
“This is a project that only happened because ultimately we all were able to pull together and make it happen,” Brown said. “The same is true of all the other challenges facing our state.
“There are a lot of people who say, ‘Hey, our golden days are behind us,’” he added. “They’re only behind us if we allow that to happen by inaction, inertia and fear. … At the end of the day we have to engineer our way forward. We have to imagine a better and different future, and this technology — bringing sun and wind power from Imperial Valley into San Diego — it’s a major step forward.”
The project is set to strengthen the state’s grid during the hot summer months and keep the lights going with the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant offline, he said. The transmission line, though, is not without its critics.
“Every step forward is met with resistance of some kind,” he said, referring to a dozen protesters lining the roadway leading to the dedication ceremony. “… The only way to get stuff done is to figure stuff out, think about it, get all the feedback, listen to everybody, and then move ahead. At some point, yes, you have to crush the opposition.”
The comment led to chuckles from the audience.
“Did I say that? No,” he added. “That’s only after you’ve drafted the EIR, you’ve circulated it, you’ve answered all the comments, you revise, you amend it, you’ve stepped backward. But at some point you have to move forward.
“And that’s the real challenge for our state, as we have 38 million people, we’re facing climate change, growing inequality, all sorts of issues,” he said. “The only way to move forward is strong leadership and collaboration on the part of all citizens.”
That theme was continued by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had been in Campo when the project broke ground in December 2010. He praised Brown’s push for clean energy in the 1970s, saying that because of that leadership, California tops the nation in energy conservation. The state is not waiting for the federal government or United Nations to set policies, but rather making its own, he said.
“All of this can only happen by 2020 if you have a green energy line like this,” he said. “This is what makes this (the 33 percent renewable portfolio standard) a reality. So today we are celebrating that we have 1,000 megawatts of clean energy, and we are celebrating that this project created 23,000 jobs, and we are celebrating that it was $3.2 billion of economic activities because of this project, and that we will have a healthy future because we all know that there’s 100,000 people dying in America every year because of pollution-created illnesses.”
In addition to the state leaders, Imperial County officials were on hand to explain the importance of the project to the local area.
“We represent Imperial County,” said Supervisor Gary Wyatt. “That’s where the Sunrise Powerlink begins, and it’s where one of the great renewable energy centers of the world connects together with one of the great urban centers of the world.
“We have made three significant contributions to San Diego and its future: our water, our congressman and our energy,” he added. “Now we’re happy about two of those three, and you’re probably happy about two of those three as well, but probably a different two out of three.”
Beyond the jokes, it’s been eight long years, with court challenges, countless articles and letters, endless droning of naysayers, he said. Now it’s time to reap the benefits of all the work that’s been done. When people turn on their lights, there will be renewable power coming from Imperial County.
Not all of the speeches were words of praise for the project. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member John Norris cautioned the audience while commending the project.
“Recognizing that the engineers in this room all see beauty in these transmission lines, most of society doesn’t,” he said. “They impact the environment and impact people.”
Those who are charged with protecting public lands need to be vigilant about the building of infrastructure, he said. However, that infrastructure is also a necessity to making sure people get renewable power, and those permitting the projects need to recognize the costs of going through the permitting process can push back a project.
While Norris congratulated those who had pushed the project through, still others outside the dedication ceremony were critical of the project.
The event was not without its controversy as about a dozen people protested along the road to the dedication ceremony. Holding signs proclaiming “Sunrise destroys Ocotillo forest” and “Governor, this is not green energy,” the group made sure those going into the project site knew what their opinion was.
“We don’t believe the Sunrise Powerlink should have ever been built to begin with,” said Denis Trafecanty, co-founder of the Protect Our Communities Foundation. “… It’s all about big money, big politics, and nothing about us, the citizens. They’re just rolling right over us.”
There’s a lawsuit still pending over the transmission line, he said. And the group is going to continue to fight against the Powerlink. Opponents say the transmission project has redirected the big-horned sheep, caused natural habitat to move away from where the Powerlink went in and put in ugly towers. It’s not just the transmission line, but all of the utility-scale renewable projects that are going to destroy the desert, he said.
“Most of the people, they see the lines and to them it’s over,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve ever lost, and we’re going to keep fighting and fighting and fighting this.”
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
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