Skip to main content
Donate

BLM Approves San Diego Backcountry Transmission Link

By Chris Clarke
August 29, 2012
Support Provided By
Jacumba-transmission-8-29-12-thumb-600x450-35125

A new substation project is coming to the sleepy San Diego County town of Jacumba | Photo: quegymo/Flickr/Creative Commons License

The Interior Department gave the go-ahead on Tuesday to a section of power line in eastern San Diego County that, though only .8 miles long, is a vital part of a burgeoning and controversial network of renewable energy facilities in the San Diego backcountry, Imperial County, and Northern Mexico.

The decision grants a right of way for a 14-mile 138-kilovolt transmission line, part of the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) "ECO Substation" project, to cross four-fifths of a mile of BLM-administered public land near Jacumba.

The $435 million ECO Substation project, on the U.S.-Mexican border east of Jacumba, would be connected to SDG&E's existing Boulevard substation by the 14-mile powerline. The two substations would be a crucial part of SDG&E's network, connecting renewable energy generation facilities in the area to the utility's new Sunrise Powerlink transmission line.

The substation project has generated significant local opposition. Neighbors in Jacumba and Boulevard have objected to what they term the increasing industrialization of the rural southeastern corner of San Diego County, and point out that the substation encourages more such development. The substation project was proposed in order to connect pending wind developments -- Tule Wind in the McCain Valley and Energía Sierra Juarez in northern Baja California -- to the Sunrise Powerlink.

Residents gained an important ally in opposing the substation last year, when outgoing Congressional representative Bob Filner wrote the BLM and California Public Utilities Commission to oppose the substation project, along with Tule Wind and Energía Sierra Juarez.

The BLM approved the Tule Wind project in 2011.

ReWire is dedicated to covering renewable energy in California. Keep in touch by liking us on Facebook, and help shape our editorial direction by taking this quick survey here.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News