Backcountry residents burned up over latest tactic to grab land before court cases on Powerlink are heard

March 8, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Aiming to begin construction on Sunrise Powerlink this summer, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) is going to court to seek eminent domain powers to force landowners to turn over as many as 80 properties to the utility for construction of the controversial high-voltage power line. The tactic has sparked outrage among many East County residents.

 


“The Bureau of Land Management totally disregarded laws to protect people and nature when it approved the Sunrise Powerlink.  Even the judge presiding over this project with the California Public Utilities Commission agreed with opponents that there’s no need for the project to be built anywhere let alone through communities and the Cleveland National Forest.” - attorney Stephan Volker
 
February 16, 2010 (San Diego)--A lawsuit was filed today aimed at halting construction of San Diego Gas and Electric’s Sunrise Powerlink high-voltage transmission line through southern Imperial and San Diego counties. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Eastern District Court in Sacramento.

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.

June 4, 2009 -- The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce reports victory in helping to defeat several bills it describes as “business UN-friendly bills." But a coalition opposed to Sunrise Powerlink has taken the Chamber to task for its opposition to one measure which supporters say would, in fact, create jobs in renewable energy production locally. The organization also seeks to persuade the Chamber to reconsider its endorsement of Sunrise Powerlink.
 

May 28, 2009 (San Diego) – Sempra Energy’s California utilities, Southern California Gas Co. (The Gas Company) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), rank No. 1 in customer satisfaction among the largest U.S. investor-owned energy utilities, according to a recent survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). But some local ratepayers expressed shock at that report, citing popular uprisings against Sempra’s proposed Sunrise Powerlink and planned shut-off of power to backcountry areas, as well as admissions by Sempra that its power lines have been linked to 167 fires in the past five and a half years.

March 28, 2009 (Alpine, CA) --The East County Community Action Coalition (ECCAC) has scheduled a Town Hall meeting on Monday, April 6, 2009, from 6-8pm at the Alpine Community Center. The meeting will be a chance for East County residents to get more information about the Sunrise Powerlink's Southern Route. The route affects communities and towns such as Alpine, Boulevard, Campo, Carveacre, Chocolate Canyon, El Monte Valley, Jacumba, Lakeside, and more. County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, a vocal opponent of the project for years, will be the keynote speaker.