Arizona halts Calif. utility's plan
Jodie Snyder
The Arizona Republic
May. 30, 2007 07:06 PM
The Arizona Corporation Commission has pulled the plug on a California utility company's plan to build 231 miles of lines to transmit energy between the two states.
After more than four hours of hearings on Wednesday, the commission unanimously voted against Southern California Edison's move to run high-voltage lines from several independently owned natural-gas plants near Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station to an area near Palm Springs.
Edison executives argued that would be good for Arizona because it would generate jobs and increase the state's ability to transmit energy. Other utility-related businesses spoke in favor of the plan.
Commission members were skeptical about how Arizona would benefit, and the hearing turned testy at times.
"I don't want Arizona to be the energy farm for California. That's my bottom line," said Bill Mundell, commission member.
Commissioners denied the application because of concerns about the economic and environmental impacts.
Corporation Commission staff members said Arizona taxpayers could lose up to $292 million because the plants could sell their electricity to the California markets, driving up energy costs for Arizonans.
Arizona also will need those plants as the state continues to grow at a rapid rate, said Kris Mayes, commission member.
"You (Southern California Edison) are trying to drop a giant extension cord into Arizona, the fastest-growing state in the country," she said.
Commissioners said they also worried about the lines' impact on Arizona's environment. About 24 miles of the proposed project would have passed through the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, a primary habitat for bighorn sheep.
Environmentalists speak
The Sierra Club and interested environmentalists, who traveled from Yuma to Phoenix to speak during the open meeting, spoke against the plan.
Commissioners' skepticism wasn't limited to the utility. They also posed tough questions to Dian Grueneich, commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission, about California's apparent lack of progress in building power plants and transmission lines in that state.
Why should Arizona put its natural resources, environment and future energy supply on the line while California does relatively little? Mundell asked.
"What we are talking about here is a one-way street. It has got to be a two-way street," he said.
Attorneys representing the California utility said they did not know what their next step would be, whether they would file a new application with the commission or go to federal authorities to override the commission's decision.
In addition to rejecting the application, the commission also levied a $4.8 million fine against Edison after state staffers discovered that the utility used the wrong type of power towers in an area very near the proposed new lines. State staffers found out about the 14 power towers, which have been there for 20 years, only because they researched the utility's application for new lines.
Utility executives said they did not know about the error. |
