ACC Not Sold On Need For Power Line
By Tony Davis
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.10.2006
TEP asks for federal review while the state debates where to put a new power line.
The Tucson Electric Power Co. is asking the federal government to streamline its
decision-making on whether such a line could go in the Coronado National Forest.
On Feb. 2, TEP asked for an expedited federal review, which would mean that all federal agencies that have a say on whether the power line gets built west of the Tumacacori Highlands would try to wrap up all permitting work on the project in a year. The Forest Service has indicated it doesn't favor that route, but hasn't made a final decision on the issue. If the permits aren't granted in a year, TEP could consider them disapproved and appeal to the White House, under a new Federal Energy
Act that gives the president's office another 90 days to sign off on the
permit.
However, a presidential approval of that line would not override any decision on the line by the Arizona Corporation Commission, said Joe Salkowski, a TEP spokesman.
A separate provision in the new law does give the federal government the right to override state decisions in other circumstances. But TEP's application doesn't come under that law, he said. - Tony Davis
A majority of Arizona Corporation Commissioners signaled Thursday that after nearly five years of conflict and gridlock, it's time for Tucson Electric Power Co. to back off on its proposed large transmission line from Sahuarita to Nogales, Ariz.
But the commission didn't make a final decision on a route or size for a new 345-kilovolt power line. It directed its administrative law judge and
a committee to return with a proposed plan for how to make that decision.
Commissioners Kris Mayes, Bill Mundell and Marc Spitzer said, to varying degrees, they are growing weary or impatient with what Spitzer called TEP's "all or nothing" stance in favor of that line. Basically, the three commissioners of the five-member board said, TEP must be more convincing about the need for the big electricity line or come up with an alternative, said Chairman Jeff Hatch-Miller, who hasn't taken a
stance on the line.
"What you've done so far is not adequate," Mayes told utility officials near the end of a six-hour hearing. "You need to start looking at alternatives. You can push for the 345, but that's not where the majority is headed. There's a clear message that we want to move forward." Spitzer said it's time for TEP to "wake up and smell the coffee" that the 345,000-volt line for now isn't going anywhere.
Joe Salkowski, a utility spokesman, said afterward that company officials will take another look at options, but that he can't say what the odds are the company will return with another proposal.
"We'll continue to work on this issue to come up with a solution that's in the best interest of our customers and our region," Salkowski said. At the hearing in Downtown Tucson, speakers against the line represented two environmental groups, ranching landowners who plan development on their properties, area residents, and neighborhood and community associations.
The proposal sprang out of a 1998 complaint from Nogales-area residents of frequent outages and other problems in their electric service. Since then, the outages are generally considered to have dropped off in frequency. But TEP and its partner Citizens Utilities have said the new line is needed to ensure that the county's service is reliable and that its system will be able to handle growth in the area.
"I believe TEP is taking a look at the region's electricity system as a whole," Hatch-Miller said. "They need 345 (kilovolt), no doubt, but should it be this line? My sense is they want an interactive electric system with Mexico that can be brought into or added into the system for the Tucson area. "But we're also sensitive to the needs of these communities," he said. Most opponents have agreed that a second line is needed to supplement the existing line, running north-south along the east side of the Santa Cruz River. Few agree on where to put it.
Many residents also have contended that TEP is using the need for additional power in Santa Cruz County as a way to justify building this line to Mexico, where the utility would try to sell additional power. The commission has already voted to support a 345-kilovolt line running through national forest land, west of three mountain ranges in the Tumacacori Highlands. But the Forest Service has said its preferred route
is down the Santa Cruz River valley west of Interstate 19 - where residents have strongly opposed the line.
Commissioners also have discussed a smaller new line than the 345-kilovolt structure TEP favors through the forest or river valley. But many residents have opposed that one. It would require more - but lower - poles than the 345-kilovolt line.
Contact reporter Tony Davis at 520-806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.
