By Miriam Raftery

July 9, 2009 (San Diego, Calif.)- An attorney for three community and environmental groups sent a letter today urging Cleveland National Forest Supervisor William Metz to reject construction of the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line project across the forest. The letter describes in detail numerous legal conflicts between Powerlink and the Forest's overarching management plan. The group also calls on the Forest Service to combine consideration of the Powerlink with an inter-related pending decision: a new Forest Service permit for miles of SDG&E's existing power lines in the forest.

By Miriam Raftery

May 13, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)—Senate Republicans blocked the nomination by President Barack Obama of David Hayes to serve as deputy secretary of the Interior Department. Hayes, who held the same position in the Clinton administration, has drawn opposition from some community leaders and environmentalists locally due to his recent role as lobbyist for Sempra Energy. Sempra’s Sunrise Powerlink Project must be approved by the Interior Department for federal lands in San Diego’s East County in order for the project to be constructed.

By Miriam Raftery March 12, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) -- East County residents opposed to Sempra Energy’s Sunrise Powerlink project are mobilizing opposition to President Barack Obama’s nomination of David Hayes as deputy director of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Hayes served as Deputy Director of the department during the Clinton Administration, but later went to work for the lobbying firm Latham & Watkins representing Sempra Energy and SDG&E. The Interior Department oversees Bureau of Land Management properties that Powerlink is slated to cross in Lakeside's El Monte Valley and other areas of San Diego's East County. A vote is expected Thursday in the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee. (See http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Members for a list of committee members and their contacts.)