SDG&E to ask court for Powerlink work access                                          
San Diego Union-Tribune
By J. Harry Jones, January 9, 2007

RANCHITA ­ San Diego Gas & Electric Co. will be in court tomorrow asking a judge to grant it access to about two dozen North County backcountry properties so it can do surveying and other studies in preparation for construction of a transmission line known as the Sunrise Powerlink.
The property owners have so far denied SDG&E access and will contest the request at a hearing scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in San Diego Superior Court.

According to court documents, SDG&E maintains it needs to get on the property to do routine surveying and to conduct various tests "to identify with specificity the route for the proposed project which will be most compatible with the greatest public good and least private injury."

The utility has proposed the 500-kilovolt, $1.3 billion line to link alternative power sources in Imperial County with San Diego County. It says the line is needed by 2010 to insure a reliable supply of electricity for the region.

The preferred route would take the line through the heart of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, through Grapevine Canyon near Ranchita to a planned substation to be built near Warner Springs or Santa Ysabel. The line will then head south and west through numerous communities including Ramona and Rancho Peñasquitos, with portions of this section near homes built underground.

Numerous community and environmental groups oppose the route. The project and the route must still be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to make a decision by the end of the year.

Property owners in the backcountry are especially upset, both about what the line's massive towers would do to their property values and the visual blight they would create. Utilities have the authority to condemn property for the construction and operation of electric systems. But some property owners will tell the judge tomorrow that there is no need for the surveying until the project has been permitted by the state. There have been many instances in recent months ofsurveyors hired by SDG&E having confrontations with property owners.

"They've already harassed us to death," said Carolyn Morrow, a rancher who lives in Ranchita along Grapevine Canyon Road. In September, surveyors accompanied by sheriff's deputies came to the Morrow home to locate a survey monument. Morrow said yesterday the land owners don't have the money to hire a lawyer and will instead address the judge themselves.