Hundreds of residents gathered Wednesday in Temecula for San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) second open house to discuss the proposed Golden Pacific Powerlink transmission line project.
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“We know community members have questions about what the GPP project could mean for their communities, and we believe it is important to engage early in the process,” SDG&E said in a statement to The Riverside Record.
The 145-mile, 500-kilovolt above-ground transmission line is planned to run from the Imperial Valley to a new substation planned to be built on the border of Orange and San Diego counties. The estimated $1.62 billion transmission line will be the longest 500 KV transmission line in SDG&E’s service territory. Temecula is the only urban area included in the proposed route.
Residents have been pushing back against the project, citing fire risks, impacts on property values and effects on the local environment as their main concerns.
Representatives from Save Temecula, a volunteer-led community coalition and nonprofit organization leading the charge against the project, called the open house a “box-checking exercise that won’t change San Diego Gas & Electric’s course, despite widespread opposition.”
Following the open house, Save Temecula President Mark Winkler said in an interview with The Record he was concerned about transparency from the utility and accused its representatives of sharing false information about the project and SDG&E’s track record with fires.
“I said to SDG&E that [their] information is wrong, and would show them statistical data that proves that their speaking points are inaccurate. They would tell me, ‘Just write it on a card, and let us know,’” he said. “It is not my job to correct SDG&E’s mistakes. They’re telling us the public needs to correct them. Well, if that’s the case, I need to be salaried by SDG&E.”
In a statement, SDG&E said the utility had worked to “provide project information and answer questions based on information available at this stage of development.
“We recognize that community members have a range of perspectives and remain committed to listening, sharing information and incorporating public input into the application as the project moves forward,” the statement continued.
Winkler said those who attended the open house left with more questions than answers and more concerns than when they entered the room.
“Most of the questions that I asked either couldn’t be answered, or the answers they gave were vague, incomplete and, at times, they were completely misleading,” he said. “We were literally correcting SDG&E because they were providing erroneous information, which is incredibly disconcerting, because they are taking the lead on this project.”
The project is still in the early phases of a regulatory process that includes public discussion of the proposed route and an independent environmental review by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). After that process is complete, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is responsible for determining and approving the final route of the transmission line.
“No final route has been selected,” SDG&E said in a statement. “The current outreach process is intended to gather community feedback on potential route alternatives before environmental review occurs and route options advance through the regulatory process.”
Winkler said the company should consider changing its corporate values from “do the right thing,” “champion people” and “shape the future,” to “We are the best company to invest in, because we will do everything possible to maximize our profits for our shareholders.
“That’s a fair value statement because I believe that’s how they operate,” he continued. “It’s profit over people.”
SDG&E, which held its first open house earlier this week in Fallbrook, will be holding two more in-person events in October. More information about those open houses can be found here on the utility’s website for the project.
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