March 30, 2012-7 p.m. (San Diego's East County) -- Two serious traffic accidents are clogging traffic on local freeways. A motorcyclist is down, blocking lanes on southbound Highway 125 at Navajo. On Interstate 8 eastbound near El Cajon Blvd., a major accident involving four vehicles and a big rig has just occurred, according to the CHP website and Incident Page Network.

March 30, 2012 (San Diego) -- Kids and families will have their choice of enjoying traditional egg hunts, meeting the Spring Bunny, gobbling up a pancake breakfast and just generally having some egg-ucational fun over the next two weekends at County parks in Ramona, Spring Valley,  Cardiff, Del Mar and Encinitas.

“A good egg hunt is a fun spring-time tradition for many families and it’s hard to imagine a better place than an egg-hunt in one of our great parks,” said Brian Albright, director of the San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation. “They’re the perfect place for the whole family.” 

Part IV in our series on the Ocotillo Express Wind project, which would feed electricity into SDG&E's Sunrise Powerlink bound for San Diego.

By Miriam Raftery

“Jobs are temporary but the destruction of our desert is forever. All of this culture and history will be lost…all in the name of greed.” – Linda Ewing, Ocotillo

“This is an economically important project for our community.”—Katie Figari, Chief Executive Officer, Brawley Chamber of Commerce

March 29, 2012 (Ocotillo) – A conditional use permit, height variances and mitigation were approved by an 8-1 vote yesterday at the Imperial Valley Planning Commission meeting.

Planners, wooed by the applicant’s estimate that $150 million in tax revenues will flow into county coffers over the project’s 30-year-life, along with a  projected 350 construction jobs and at most 20 permanent jobs, opted to ignore the very grave concerns voiced by tribal leaders, environmentalists, health workers and many residents. Those concerns include dangerous and destructive potential of the project, as well as federal fast-tracking that has trampled long-held rights of residents and tribes.

March 29, 2012 (Lemon Grove) – Police seek information on the occupants of a dark sedan that pulled up next to a Ford Five Hundred near Massachusetts early this morning.  The driver of the Ford and a passenger heard several shots and two bullet holes were found in the driver’s side of the vehicle. No one was injured. 

March 29, 2012 (San Diego)—Michael Kobulnicky, a Lemon Grove resident and former spokesman for the San Diego Tea Party, is a free man after the District Attorney dropped all charges.  Kobulnicky had been accused of kidnapping a woman, then sexually assaulting her at Fiesta Island.

• Supreme Court weighs all or nothing on healthcare law (Reuters)
• Jobs bill clears Congress despite warnings (Los Angeles Times)
• Trayvon Martin: confronting the problem of enduring racism (Forbes)
• A job at what cost? When employers log in to dig in (NPR)
• Gingrich scales back his presidential bid (USA Today)
• Cooking school spreads immigrant skills and ethnic recipes (NPR)

• Very high radiation, little water in remaining Japanese reactor (UT San Diego)
• Japan left with one nuclear reactor after shutdown (BBC)
• Syrian authorizes are targeting children, says UN rights chief (BBC)

  Part II in ECM’s exclusive report on the Ocotillo Express Wind project, a joint investigation with ABC 10 News. (See the 10 News portion of this investigation, a report on environmental impacts of the project here:     10 News text: http://www.10news.com/news/30776233/detail.html; 10 News video: http://www.10news.com/video/30776306/index.html)

“To have the Governor’s office tell our park officials NOT to comment on Ocotillo,  OR ANY OTHER alternative energy projects adjacent to the Park, is a travesty, a violation of the trust between the citizens and the state.” – Mark Jorgensen, retired Superintendent, Anza Borrego Desert State Park in an e-mail to ECM

 “These allegations are not true.   No such directive came from the the Governor’s Office or the California Natural Resources Agency saying that State Parks could not comment on the Ocotillo Wind Express Project. “ -- Richard Stapler, Deputy Secretary for Communications, California Natural Resources Agency

By Miriam Raftery

March 27, 2012 (Anza-Borrego) – The former Superintendent of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP) has contacted East County Magazine to allege a cover-up by the State Parks Department and the Governor of serious impacts that the proposed Ocotillo Express wind project would have on our largest state park and its natural resources.  The proposed wind project shares a five-mile border with ABSP and if approved, would erect up to 155 wind turbines each 456 feet tall—some just yards from the park.

“We believe that DOI [Department of the Interior] is poised to violate the law and our rights to religious freedom and our cultural identities guaranteed by DOI’s own policies, the United States Constitution, and international declarations. We need your help.” --Chairman Anthony Pico, Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, in a letter to President Barack Obama

Part I in an ECM special report series on potential impacts of the Ocotilllo Wind Express project

By Miriam Raftery

March 23, 2012 (Ocotillo) – For months, Ocotillo residents and conservationists have been waging a David and Goliath battle seeking to stop Pattern Energy’s proposed Ocotillo Wind Express project. Now Kumeyaay, Cocopah,Quechan and other Native American tribes have banded together to oppose the massive project-- joining residents, desert conservation groups and outdoor enthusiasts who seek to protect resources from destruction—including hundreds of cultural and archaeological sites. 

On March 28, the Imperial Valley Planning Commission will rule on whether to approve the controversial project, which would generate power for San Diego County.  At the federal level, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior  is expected to issue a final decision  by May 1.  A petition seeking to stop the project has been launched by Ocotillo residents:  http://www.change.org/petitions/say-no- ... y-project#.