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• SunZia Southwest Transmission Project
• Cascabel Working Group
• See comment submitted by the Cascabel Working Group (.doc file)

A plan for a bypass to ease traffic to and from Tucson was scrapped spring 2008 (aka the San Pedro plan). However, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) may still be considering alternative plans for a highway that will violate sacred wilderness areas in Aravaipa and Aravaca.

In fact, we have learned that a high voltage transmission line is being considered for the same route as the I-10 bypass route. This project has been named the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project and will involve two parallel lines of towers ranging up to 175 feet in height.

Two main concerns: 1) Project leaders may not have considered existing infrastructure corridors with less environmental impact--may be going for path of least political resistance, and 2) this line could ease the way for a future highway, if provisions aren't specifically made to preclude that possibility.

Bureau of Land Management Extends Comment Period to August 28

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is extending the public comment period on the proposed SunZia Southwest Transmission Line Project through August 28, 2009. The initial public scoping comment period was scheduled to end July 13, 2009; however, due to numerous requests from interested groups, organizations and citizens, the BLM has made a decision to grant an extension to the formal comment period. "The extended scoping comment period will give the public more time and an additional opportunity to share comments and concerns and identify issues and alternatives to be considered during the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process," said Linda Rundell, BLM New Mexico State Director.

More Background Info

The BLM is the lead federal agency for a proposal by SunZia Transmission LLC to construct, operate, and maintain a high-voltage 500 kilovolt (kV) power transmission line (or two parallel lines) across southern New Mexico and Arizona. SunZia's proposed transmission line would be about 460 miles in length and originate at a new substation site in either Socorro or Lincoln County, New Mexico; it would terminate in Pinal County, Arizona. The proposed line - or parallel lines - would be located on federal, state, and private lands. The purpose of the project would be to transport electricity, generated primarily from renewable resources, to western power markets and centers. The BLM, as the lead federal agency, will oversee the preparation of the EIS that will identify environmental impacts and evaluate alternatives for the project. The final agency decision for the proposed route, which would involve decisions on federal Right-of-Way designations, will only affect public lands administered by the BLM. Cooperating agencies invited to participate include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the New Mexico State Land Office and the Arizona State Land Department and other state agencies and local governments. Consultation will also occur with tribal governments.

• You can attend a public meeting and we will post dates/times/locations for any that will be scheduled. (We do not know of any that are scheduled as of July 19.)
• Submit a comment during the public scoping period, which was originally to end July 13th but has been estended until August 28, 2009.
• And, of course, spread the word to relevant parties!

A public meeting was held June 23rd at:
Oracle Community Ctr
685 E. American
See a detailed summary of this meeting below.

If you are on the east side of the Galiuros, public meetings were scheduled at these times in these locations:

• Manor House Convention Center,
  415 E. Hwy. 70 in Safford, at 5 PM on June 24, 2009.
• Valley Telephone Company conference room,
  752 E. Maley St. in Willcox, at 5 PM on June 29, 2009.

The current public comment period, referred to as the "scoping" phase, has been extended until August 28, 2009. Comments can be submitted through the BLM Project Website, by email, or by writing:

Bureau of Land Management
SunZia Transmission Line Project
P.O Box 27115,
Santa Fe, NM 87502-0115

Deliveries will be accepted via courier/hand delivery to the:

Bureau of Land Management
SunZia Transmission Line Project
1474 Rodeo Road
Santa Fe, NM 87505

To be added to the mailing list or if you have questions, you can phone:
BLM Project Manager, Adrian Garcia at (505) 438-7424.

An open house format meeting was held June 23rd at the Oracle Community Center. Environmenal consultants, a BLM representative, and project engineers/administrators were available for one-on-one consultation with the public.

The SunZia project proposes to erect two parallel 500,000 volt transmission lines running between a power substation near Eloy, Arizona and another substation located near Socorro, New Mexico. The project leaders said that these lines are needed to carry "new" power from renewable sources in New Mexico and Arizona to western power markets. The renewable power sources highlighted on project maps mainly included wind generators in central New Mexico and solar thermal generators in southern Arizona and New Mexico. These lines would also have the capability to transport non-renewable sources of electricity.

The markets for the renewable sources of energy are being driven by Renewable Energy Standards that currently vary from state to state in the Southwest. The largest market appears to be in California, where 33% of that state's energy needs must be generated from renewable sources by the year 2020. In Arizona, the mandated target for renewable energy sources is only 15%, and the deadline is the year 2025. The proposed lines are currently scheduled for construction and operation in 2013.

Primarily because of these new Renewable Energy Standards, SunZia project administrators tend to portray the project as environmentally friendly. One comment quoted by the Arizona Daily Star from SunZia Project Manager Adrian Garcia was, "What we're trying to do is develop a site that has the least amount of impact". Wouldn't you know that the first SunZia person I ran into at the Oracle meeting was Adrian Garcia. I asked him, "If the idea is to minimize impact, why would your preferred route run right through an area that has never had any infrastructure corridor, and why would you choose a route that the recent I-10 Bypass Study determined had more miles running through or within one mile of environmentally sensitive areas than any other route considered?" His reply was rapid and somewhat scattered, mentioning "other impacts that need to be considered" and "alternative routes that are still on the table".

So, what are the alternative routes through our region? Four portions of the route are repeats of the I-10 Bypass Study, and project leaders admit that once a route goes on anybody's planning map, it tends to get picked up by subsequent project proposals. These four routes include the one that threads the needle between the Aravaipa and Galiuro Wilderness Areas, the route that runs just south of the Santa Teresa Wilderness Area toward Safford, the route that runs south from the headwaters of Aravaipa Creek down though the Sulphur Springs Valley, and the route through the middle San Pedro Valley.

The towers for these lines would range up to 125 to 175 feet in height, in order to maintain the lines at the minimum safety elevation above the ground. Distance between towers would range between 800 and 2000 feet, with the typical distance being 1300 to 1500 feet. Project engineers told me that typically the easement for these lines would be about 200 feet wide, and this includes a no-build zone beneath the power lines for safety purposes. They said that two types of roads would be required, temporary construction access roads and a permanent service road. In remote areas, the service road could be simply a dirt road, but it would require a compacted surface, such as AB mix or decomposed granite in areas subject to erosion. No mention was made of excluding the service road from public use, and one consultant thought that it would be difficult to limit public access to a new road, since the lines would primarily be on public lands.

I asked almost everyone associated with the project, "How did this Aravaipa portion end up being shown as the preferred route?" The engineers basically said, "Because it's the shortest and cheapest", and one mentioned political cost as well as financial costs. The environmental consultants either said "I don't know" or "It was shown that way when I was hired". One environmental consultant said that the Bureau of Land Management mainly sees the land they oversee as "resources" for human civilization, and they try to "balance" the use of these resources in a multi-purpose way. One consultant also used that harmonious word, balance, when she spoke of balancing environmental impacts with visual impacts for humans in populated or recreational areas.

Well, you can always make more roads and more power lines and you can do that in a couple of years. But, it takes hundreds of thousands of years to develop wilderness areas. So, don't mess with these areas, especially when there are other alternatives that may cost a few more bucks and a few more political chits in the short term, but will preserve something far more irreplaceable and valuable in the long term. Our wilderness areas and wildlife corridors are disappearing, because politicians see these areas as easy pickings for any new project that comes down the pike. Since there are fewer humans along these routes, there tends to be less of the NIMBY phenomenon, and less of the headaches associated with eminent domain.

Whether you call it the natural world or creation, we should not continue to systematically send out development tentacles into our dwindling wildlife areas, destroying more and more of the web of life on Earth, even as we attempt to be more "green".

I think most of us favor replacing electricity from fossil fuel plants with electricity from renewable sources, so long as the people in the large western energy markets such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, and Albuquerque are also subject to rigorous energy conservation standards.

So, I favor choosing a route that already has an existing access road, and preferably a route that already has an existing infrastructure corridor. There are such routes listed among the alternatives, and if the study area needs to be widenened to include additional alternatives, then so be it.

Feel free to voice your own opinions, and please take the time to make your formal comments by the July 13 deadline. Make your comments and reasons for objections as specific as possible.

Here is a sample letter (PDF).

Please spread the word!
Peter Else

Peter Else is an agronomist who has lived and worked in southern Arizona since 1981.

Mana Pottery was one of the 100+ arts and crafts vendors present at the Mateel 33rd Annual Summer Arts & Music Festival at Benbow Lake, CA, on June 6 and 7. Check out our photos from the fest!

Renee Fajardo-Anstine, with photographer Todd Pierson, has created a beautiful series of photos with videos and a book, which tell the stories of many remarkable women from communities of the American Southwest--including Annie Zapf of the Peyote Way Church and Barbara Clark of the Cascabel Clayworks. Learn about this show and see photos. You can help this project receive funding for expansion by voting for it (must register first) HERE.

In 2005, the Peyote Way Church undertook the major project of building a greenhouse, where Peyote would be planted for use in future Spirit Walks (for our grandchildren!).

The Peyote fields in South Texas are being encroached upon by ranches, oil wells and Agribusiness farming. We believe such greenhouses are the only answer to the increasing shortage of Peyote in the wild.

Since its construction, the greenhouse has been planted with over 5,000 Peyote plants.

Construction may be complete, but the buildings and plants have continuous needs. We hope this work will be embraced by all Peyotists. Your donation is much appreciated!

Learn more about the Grandchildren's Greenhouse.