Proposed power line would impact farms

Issue Date: May 28, 2008

By Christine Souza
Assistant Editor

Marco Moretti, standing with his daughter Katie Moretti, points to the ridge line on his property where the proposed San Diego Gas & Electric's Sunrise Powerlink project would run, just yards away from their home and barn.

During the late 1800s when there was no electricity to speak of, Katie Moretti's family emigrated from Switzerland to Southern California's Santa Ysabel. Today, with the property considered a prime location for San Diego Gas & Electric's proposed Sunrise Powerlink project, the second-generation cattle rancher is concerned about her family's future.

The Powerlink is a $1.3 billion electric transmission line that, if approved, would extend over 150 miles across San Diego and Imperial counties to meet an increasing demand for electricity and deliver required renewable power to the area.

"The impacts that this will have on our ranch are huge because the line traverses the entire length of the ranch and includes the construction of a number of access roads. It has cost me personally thousands of dollars and hours off of work to plead our case," Moretti said. "They are taking swathes of land to be used for access roads that we've never driven a vehicle on. It is really upsetting that they are not taking into consideration people's livelihood and heritage."

Moretti and her 84-year-old father, Marco Moretti, have followed the progress of the Sunrise Powerlink project since August 2006, when SDG&E filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for authority to construct the project, a 500-kilovolt transmission line in conjunction with several 230-kilovolt transmission lines. According to SDG&E, the transmission line would have the capacity to import up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity and would be needed by 2010 to ensure electricity reliability to the area, reduce energy costs and allow the company to meet its obligations to purchase state-mandated targets of energy supply from renewable generation resources.

Currently, there are two proposed routes--generally described as the northern and southern routes--with a number of alternative options within each route. The proposed northern route begins in Imperial County and traverses the middle of San Diego County, including cutting through several ranching properties and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The proposed southern route begins in the Imperial Valley, paralleling the existing Southwest Powerlink line, and then heads north; it would either generally follow Interstate 8 through the Cleveland National Forest or go around the national forest to the south and then travel north. Each of the southern route alternatives would then travel northwest past San Vincente Reservoir to connect with the northern route.

Moretti and others are concerned about how this project will impact the future use of their land as well as the possible use of eminent domain to take their property for the power line and access roads.

"Their plan is to eventually put three towers side by side through the ranch and through the valley, so they want a 300-foot easement. They told us, 'We'll just take the land by eminent domain. You don't have a choice,'" Moretti said. "On a moral issue, the fifth amendment to the constitution says that eminent domain can be taken by the government for public use, but did they mean for a utility company to take a 300-foot swath through the valley for a profit?"

With acreage protected under the Williamson Act, Moretti is worried that if land is taken by eminent domain, she would be paid for the diminished value of the land.

"All of our land out there is in the Williamson Act so theoretically it is worth less than it would be if it was a prime piece of property in San Diego," Moretti added. "They want to pay you fair market value for 300 feet of an easement. They don't pay you for loss of use."

Neighboring rancher Glen Drown said the proposed power line route would run the length of his property for almost six miles. His family is worried about impacts to land-use options as well as what the Powerlink would do to the value of the land.

"My father-in-law had the foresight to break the ranch up into smaller parcels that would facilitate either allowing us to sell off just a small piece, an 80-acre parcel as opposed to 600 acres, to pay estate taxes if we needed to or give the kids some alternatives," Drown said. "This line goes right though many of these legal parcels and it certainly diminishes the value. Who is going to want that parcel with a power line through it?"

San Diego County Farm Bureau Executive Director Eric Larson said of the two routes proposed, SDG&E is lobbying heavily for the northern route, which will impact county agriculture.

"From the farm community's perspective, our issue has been the same all along, that the impacts to agriculture have got to be considered," Larson said. "We don't believe we can jump in front of this thing and stop it, but if it is going to go through, it needs to be compatible with the agriculture. That means perhaps undergrounding it in areas that are agriculturally sensitive or going around them or staying in the existing right of ways and not venturing out onto new property. All of those things need to be considered."

As the Powerlink transmission line moves eastward to Imperial County, the agricultural community there has also expressed concerns about the impacts to farmers and ranchers. Imperial County Farm Bureau Executive Director Nicole Rothfleisch indicated that for these reasons, the county Farm Bureau is opposed to the northern route, which would go over the top of Bullfrog Farms, owned by dairy producer Richard Van Leeuwen.

"The original route went right over the top of the dairy. SDG&E came up with a couple of alternatives. The one that they settled on moves the transmission line about a half mile away from the dairy, but it puts it right on top of where my baby calves are being raised," Van Leeuwen said. "They are telling people at their meetings that they have mitigated the Bullfrog Dairy problem and they haven't. I'm less convinced that SDG&E is even concerned about my situation at all."

Van Leeuwen expressed concern about stray voltage coming off the power lines and potentially impacting the safety of his animals.

"That is energy in the air swirling around. Well, that energy falls off and falls down into the ground and it can travel some distance, so the well-being of our milk cows is our first concern," Van Leeuwen said.

To ensure the safety of the calves, Van Leeuwen said the calf ranch would have to be rebuilt elsewhere on his property, a relocation that would cost him several million dollars.

Before construction can commence on the project, SDG&E must receive CPUC approval for the purpose and need for the project and the exact route, including a complete investigation of the environmental impacts and possible mitigations. California Farm Bureau Federation is a party to the CPUC proceeding.

Early this month, hearings concluded in the second phase of the Powerlink project at the CPUC. The first phase of hearings, held last summer, addressed the technical need for the project, whereas the second phase covered a variety of issues such as a cost-benefit comparison of the alternatives, deficiencies in the draft EIR and the effect of the alternatives on system reliability. The final EIR is expected to be released in June, with written arguments by parties to the proceeding due at the end of this month. It is anticipated that the administrative law judge will issue a proposed decision in July. The CPUC is responsible for adopting a final decision on the Powerlink project.

SDG&E says the Powerlink project would enable the utility to tap into developing non-fossil fuel sources such as geothermal power to meet the growing energy demands of San Diego. Early next decade, large utilities will be required to obtain at least one-fifth of their electricity from such renewable sources.

The Sunrise Powerlink case is important to Imperial and San Diego counties, but it is also important on a statewide basis, according to Karen Norene Mills, California Farm Bureau Federation associate counsel and director of utilities. There is tremendous pressure on decision-makers to facilitate the construction of transmission infrastructure, she said.

"The manner in which the CPUC addresses this case will set the tone for many other transmission line proceedings that are in various planning stages, implicating how the CPUC will oversee resource impacts from the construction of lines and the need to coordinate construction of transmission by the large, investor-owned utilities, such as SDG&E, with the state's municipal utilities, in this case Imperial Irrigation District," Mills said.

To learn more

For more information about the Sunrise Powerlink project, go to www.cpuc.ca.gov

Other transmission line projects that could impact farmers and ranchers in California include:

• The Central California Clean Energy Transmission Project proposed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. could potentially be 140 to 170 miles long and extend from San Joaquin to Kern county. For more information, go to www.caiso.com.
• The San Joaquin Cross Valley Loop is a transmission line proposed by Southern California Edison. This project could be 19 to 24 miles long and extend through Tulare County. For more information, go to www.sce.com.
• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has a number of projects in the planning stages, including the Barren Ridge Renewable Transmission Project and the Green Path North Transmission Project. The Barren Ridge project is proposed to be located in northwestern Los Angeles County and southwestern Kern County and be about 75 miles long. The Green Path North project would deliver energy from Imperial County to the city of Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California. To learn more about the Barren Ridge project, go to www.ladwp.com. For the Green Path North project, go to www.ladwp.com.

(Christine Souza is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top