In the sweltering summer heat, a sea of yellow shirts embossed with the words “Save Temecula” flooded street corners surrounding the Temecula Duck Pond Friday.
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Almost 100 people gathered to raise awareness and push back against San Diego Gas and Electric Company’s (SDG&E) proposed Golden Pacific Powerlink, a transmission project that aims to build 145 miles of high-voltage transmission lines directly through Temecula.
Several demonstrators who live within a few miles of the proposed transmission lines said they were concerned about the potential health and safety impacts the lines might pose.
“We don’t want power lines around our schools or through the beautiful nature that we have here in Temecula,” said Ryan Trachman, a member of Toxin Free Temecula, an organization that came out in support of Save Temecula. “We are against eye pollution, because that’s going to be really ugly; they’re the highest towers. We are against noise pollution. That’s going to have a buzz, and we are against environmental pollution.”
Residents cited increased fire risk as their biggest concern with the proposed project. The transmission line is currently set to pass through the Temecula Creek, which is zoned as Open Space Conservation under the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. A petition is circulating in the city to classify the waterway as an environmentally protected area.
The creek, surrounded by densely populated residential neighborhoods on both sides, is designated a high fire risk area and prone to wildfires. The city is also classified as a high wind-speed zone, according to city codes and standards, which can speed the spread of fires.
Many residents said they were concerned the new power lines would impact aerial firefighting capabilities.
“Power lines are ignition sources,” said Shal Renfro, lead organizer and chief marketing and communications officer for Save Temecula. “These 200-foot towers that they plan to run through that creek bed reduce and cripple firefighting capabilities.”
If a fire were to start near one of the power lines, firefighters would have to wait for SDG&E to deenergize the lines before they put out the blaze, according to a summary of SDG&E’s Community Fire Safety Program and FireRescue1.
“When you’re in a wildfire within an urban area, every second counts,” Renfro said. “The rate of spread can happen so quickly that it could absolutely take out neighborhoods in no time at all, and that’s terrifying to me and many residents here.”
Renfro spent Mother’s Day creating a Facebook page for people across the city to connect and share information about the powerlink and their concerns for Temecula. That was the start of Save Temecula.
“I connected with another mom who, in her case, also spent her Mother’s Day writing a petition on Change.org and with other people who were really concerned about it through Facebook and Nextdoor,” Renfro said. “I just started kind of pulling the team together that way.”
That mom was Cristina Bracamonte, who was not much of an activist until she found out that SDG&E planned to build power lines just outside her daughter’s middle school.
The health and safety concerns spurred her to action, and now her petition, “Save Temecula: Stop SDG&E from running electric towers through Temecula Creek,” has more than 11,000 signatures.
“I want to raise my family here,” Bracamonte said. “And now to hear there is a power line, it’s disheartening.”
In the three months since its formation, Save Temecula has managed to amass almost 3,000 members. Starting with many individual efforts by concerned Temecula residents, the group has since consolidated its work into one grassroots coalition. Many members are engaging in civic activism for the first time.
“I had never been to the city council in my life,” Natalie Garcia said. “But I saw the power line, and I thought no, definitely not. This is horrifying; I don’t want a power line in my backyard.”
Garcia said she first heard of the project in an email from her neighborhood homeowners association (HOA) and immediately sprang into action, gathering her neighbors and printing 1,000 fliers on her own dime to pass out at supermarkets around town to encourage people to attend the meetings and express their concerns.
Garcia, Renfro and others spent days informing residents of SDG&E’s plans; the May 26 Temecula City Council meeting was packed. With more than 500 people in attendance and over 100 public comments logged in opposition to the project, the council later adopted a resolution formally opposing the project and began the legal process of trying to force the utility to reroute the power line.
“One thing that’s been really amazing to see is how the city of Temecula, as well as the people, our community here, have really rallied, unified, and are pushing back already,” Renfro said.
The sea of yellow shirts has maintained its presence in the city council chambers, with residents showing up at every meeting to express their continued concerns with the Golden Pacific Powerlink’s progression.
Project Director Erica Martin said the exact route is still subject to change based on environmental reviews and permitting. She said the utility would have an updated route for the transmission line available during its in-person open houses later this month.
According to SDG&E, the project will serve San Diego, the Los Angeles Basin and connect remote desert areas. It is set to run from Imperial County to a new substation planned to be built in South Orange County. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is responsible for approving the final route the power line will take.
“The Southern California region is full of high fire threat district areas; we have a very strong partnership with Cal Fire in addressing that risk,” Martin said. “Wildfire risk is a category of study in the CPUC’s environmental review process, so they will also look at the potential risk and impact related to the wildfire and the possible routes that they’re studying.”
The nearly $2.3-billion transmission line and substation proposal is the most expensive of 21 other electric transmission projects designated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to meet statewide energy goals.
Garcia, who now volunteers as Save Temecula’s community outreach manager, spends more than 40 hours a week canvassing, organizing petitions, passing out flyers and rallying at community events to make sure “the community keeps showing up.”
“People are not aware of what’s going on in this community,” she said. “And I think the main thing we need right now is the community to show up and show out every time we do a call to action.”
In the coming months, Save Temecula’s primary goal is to prepare for the regulatory battle with the CPUC.
“Community mobilization is necessary to support the legal and regulatory battle ahead,” Renfro said. “Within the community, we can spread awareness and help to really educate people on what it would mean for our community, because there are a lot of people who care, but they don’t know what to do.”
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