Since SDG&E has refused to invest in research to find faeries and sprites to carry the electrical power from the desert to the city, they are proposing to blight the environment with a power line that carries the stuff from the desert (where we don't live) to the coast (where we do). It's called the Sunrise Powerlink.
All right-thinking environmentalists oppose this, of course. Here's what the environmentalists are warning us about.
Despite its cheerful-sounding name, the Sunrise Powerlink has decidedly gloomy environmental implications. This controversial, 150-mile-long proposed transmission line would run from California’s Imperial Valley desert to the north coastal city of San Diego and would cut across Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Cleveland National Forest, as well as through the heart of many other protected parks, preserves, and communities. The project would ravage habitat, contribute to global warming, and even pose a significant threat to people from wildfire.Thank goodness for these guys. If it wasn't for them, we'd be getting more power from renewable resources and that's the last thing we want. After all, if we did that, how would their sister organizations be able to scream at the utility companies for killing us all with greenhouse gases?
LOL - Great post.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting to the point to where I think SDG&E is pushing the route through the state parks just so it can get killed by the environmentalists.
ReplyDeleteIf you can build an Interstate where I-8 currently exists, why would you not choose the same basic route for your transmission line. Impact to the ennvironment is minimal and you have pre-existing infrastructure to keep the costs down... am I missing something?
Dean,
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're missing that if we run it along I-8 then all the drivers will get cancer from the electric fields (just in case I wasn't clear, that last was with tongue firmly planted in cheek).
I happen to think that SDGE is handling it great. Put the two environmental groups in opposition. Force them to show that they do not understand, or have any idea what the words "compromise" and "reasonable" mean.
To see that there really is an environmentally friendly alternative to the Sunrise Powerlink, one that will cut San Diego's energy-related carbon footprint more than this transmission line, check out www.sdsmartenergy.org.
ReplyDeleteThe Sunrise Powerlink isn't really about bringing renewable energy to San Diego. That's just a smokescreen dreamed up by SDG&E and the San Diego establishment (a fact which has been well covered in the San Diego Union-Tribune by their business writer, Dean Calbreath).
Larry,
ReplyDeleteThe Sunrise Powerlink isn't really about bringing renewable energy to San Diego. That's just a smokescreen dreamed up by SDG&E and the San Diego establishment
A smokescreen for what, exactly? SDG&E just wants to have transmission lines running all over the place? What kind of conspiracy theory is that? SDG&E makes their money off of killowatt hours, not miles of power lines.