[1] The project was approved by the United States Forest Service (USFS) in July 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in January 2009 and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in December 2008.
SDG&E stated that the 117-mile (188 km) long 230/500 kilovolt power line would bring 1000 megawatts of renewable energy from the Imperial Valley to San Diego County.
The USFS issued a Record of Decision on July 13, 2010 that allows for a 19-mile (31 km) segment of the line to be built through the Cleveland National Forest.
The PMR fine-tunes the approved route and enhances the environmental preservation and protection components of the transmission line.
[13] SDG&E has stated that the line is intended to carry renewable energy generated by the sun, wind and geothermal sources.
[14] In its 4-1 decision to approve the line, the CPUC stated that the Sunrise Powerlink will facilitate the development of Imperial Valley renewable energy projects capable of generating 1,900 megawatts of clean power.
[15] The decision further stated that this renewable energy would likely remain unavailable to San Diego without a new, secure transmission line.
[15] However, in a dissenting opinion, CPUC Commissioner Dian Grueneich stated that the application should be denied for the following reasons: (1) It is not needed to meet SDG&E's renewable portfolio standard (RPS)obligation of 20% by 2010;(2) Assuming a 20% RPS, it is not economic and will potentially generate significant ratepayer costs; (3) It will have many significant and unmitigable impacts on the environment; and (4) Other alternatives will meet SDG&E's eventual reliability needs more economically and with fewer significant and unmitigable impacts on the environment.
[17] In response to that concern, SDG&E President & CEO Debra Reed stated in testimony before the commission that the utility would make three voluntary commitments if Sunrise is approved.
Together, these renewable resources could potentially produce enough electricity to power 8 million homes at noon, on a sunny day, if the wind was turning windfarm turbine rotors at their theoretical maximum speed.
Community groups state that SDG&E failed to notify the public about the southern route which was ultimately selected by the CPUC.
[25] SDG&E contends they performed all notifications as required by law, and that the project's environmental impact report included the southern route as one of the nine alternatives being considered.
[27] The CPUC and SDG&E state that they have held numerous workshops and community meetings to gather input and feedback on the Sunrise Powerlink.
SDG&E has created seven Community Councils along the route that give the public the opportunity to provide input and feedback on the permitting and construction of the Sunrise Powerlink.
Community Councils are being created in: Imperial Valley, Campo, Boulevard, Jacumba, Alpine, Lakeside and the City of San Diego.
More than 75 elected officials support the Sunrise Powerlink, as do numerous business and labor organizations that represents tens of thousands of Californians.
[39] One elected official is San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who is actively opposed to the route, and has testified before the CPUC in opposition to the project.
UCAN, in a joint action with the Center for Biological Diversity, is challenging the CPUC's approval in the California Supreme Court.
[46] The 11,000 page Environmental Impact Report conducted by the California Public Utilities Commission favored no transmission line as its first alternative.
Rather than following roads (e.g. Interstate 8) or existing transmission lines, SDG&E originally proposed to build it in wilderness, cutting across Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Cleveland National Forest.
Santa Ana winds create extremely dangerous fire conditions and have been the primary driver of most of California's catastrophic wildfires.
Because of the presence of dense, dry fuels and periodic Santa Ana winds, southern California has been characterized as having one of the most fire-prone landscapes in the world.
The outcome of not fighting a wildfire in an otherwise defensible landscape under favorable weather conditions is that it is able to build in size and intensity unchecked by firefighters who are forced to wait until the fire passes through the area.
(Class I)- Aerial and ground-based firefighting efforts would be compromised by the introduction of an overhead transmission line due to the introduction of various hazards as identified in the Containment Conflict Model results, including increasing the risk of transmission line contact by aircraft or water buckets, creating indefensible landscapes, and obstructing historical fire containment boundaries.
The outcome of not fighting a wildfire in an otherwise defensible landscape under favorable weather conditions is that it is able to build in size and intensity unchecked by firefighters who are forced to wait until the fire passes through the area.