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Another Snag for Sunrise Powerlink Project

San Diego Gas and Electric's plan to build a controversial transmission line has hit another roadblock. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has this update.

Another Snag for Sunrise Powerlink Project

San Diego Gas and Electric's plan to build a controversial transmission line has hit another roadblock. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has this update.

The utility wants to build a 150-mile high-voltage power line through the backcountry in San Diego and Imperial Counties.  SDG&E says the $1.5 billion Sunrise Powerlink project will be needed to keep the lights on in San Diego.

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But the approval process has been plagued with delays. The latest when the California Public Utilities Commission ordered changes to the draft environmental impact report. That decision means the commission won't consider the project until November. 

Michael Shames is with the Utility Consumers' Action Network . He's against the proposal.

Shames: There is not a chance that a commission decision will come out that will not be appealed. And that appeal is going to take a couple of years. So anyone who believes that Sunrise is going to be built by 2011 really is engaging in fantasy land kind of speculation

The CPUC also wants the state power grid operator to figure out the economic benefits of Sunrise and project alternatives.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.