Plans to Hang Power Lines Near Temecula Criticized

Locals criticized a project that may string miles of power lines through Temecula's hills during a meeting that drew hundreds.

The California Public Utilities Commission hosted the meeting Tuesday at Ortega High School in Lake Elsinore. The event aimed to get feedback from residents about a planned hydro-electric plant near the lake.

The project, called the Talega-Escondido/Valley-Serrano 500 kV Interconnect, would hang 32 miles of power lines and build 138 steel lattice towers from the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pump Storage Project facility to a transmission line in San Diego County.

The power line and towers would wind through the Cleveland National Forest, just west of Temecula. The project is in the environmental review stages.

During the meeting, Lake Elsinore Unified School District board member Jeanie Corral condemned the project’s high environmental risks and low returns to the community.

“You’re putting an entire ecosystem at risk,” she said. “None of the electricity generated will give jobs to our community or give power to our community.”

Lake Elsinore resident Chris Hyland cited questionable intentions by The Nevada Hydro Company officials.

“This whole project is a scam,” she said, calling out the years of combative back-and-forth between the company and the community.

The Nevada Hydro Company filed an application on October 9, 2007, to build the project, though a pumping station in Lake Elsinore has been in the works since the late 1980s.

From the outset, residents and environmental groups criticised the project for harming wildlife and endangered species, increasing fire risk from downed lines, hurting property values, and creating health risks. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, Jonathan Evans, a staff attorney for the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, criticized TNHC’s proposal to build lines through sensitive forest lands.

“They’ve chosen the most environmentally destructive path possible,” he said. “We need to tell TNHC to support clean energy alternatives.”

Gene Frick, who represents Friends of the Forest --Trabuco District and Santa Rosa Plateau, chastised the commission for failing to record public comments during the meeting.

“Why are we commenting if no one is recording what we’re saying?” he said, calling the process and the project “unconscionable.”

Frick also criticized the portion of the project proposal that calls for dam and reservoir construction at Decker Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest.

“There are no public meetings scheduled in Orange County,” Frick said, noting that if the proposed dam were to fail, Orange County residents could be in peril. “Dams do break.”

Of the dozens who spoke out during Tuesday's meeting, no one expressed support for the project, and none of the Hydro Company principals came forward.

The commission is seeking public comments on the proposal through April 29. According to the project schedule, it will publish an Environmental Impact Report late this year, and public comments on the report will be heard next spring. A final report is expected April 2012.

The commission is holding another local public meeting Wednesday April 6 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Murrieta Community Center, 41810 Juniper St.

To see get more information on the project, click here.

To request additional information, contact Andrew Barnsdale, the commission's project manager, by calling 877-202-2820 or emailing him at interconnect@aspeneg.com.