Sunrise Powerlink Options Narrowed

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 16, 2007 at 1:39 PM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The California Public Utilities Commission has narrowed the alternatives for the proposed Sunrise Powerlink project. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The California Public Utilities Commission has narrowed the alternatives for the proposed Sunrise Powerlink project. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

San Diego Gas and Electric wants to build a transmission line that would carry power from renewable sources in the Imperial Valley to San Diego. The state PUC and the federal Bureau of Land Management have now eliminated several routes, including one in Borrego Springs. Others are still in the mix, including a route through the Cleveland National Forest and the I-8 alternative near Boulevard. David Hogan is with the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Hogan : The document does appear to be taking seriously consideration of what we call no wires alternatives -- basically don't build the Powerlink and just do more good things locally in San Diego -- like more solar power and more wind energy to reduce the need for building a brand-new giant industrial transmission line through our back country.

SDG&E says the Powerlink project would provide energy to power more than 600,000 thousand homes. Federal and state officials will consider the alternatives for a draft Environmental Impact Report. The report is due in mid-July.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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