Follow the Money$$
East County Chamber of Commerce Endorses Sunrise Powerlink while accepting BIG donations from SDG&E
The East County Chamber of Commerce boasts that its “support helped make Sunrise Powerlink a reality”. Here is a quote from a 02/11/09 article on the chamber website: “The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce support was critical to the recent approval of the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). San Diego Gas & Electric and the Community Alliance for the Sunrise Powerlink (CASP) appreciate your commitment to a brighter energy future”.
Now… guess who is a “Chariman’s Club” member of the Chamber? http://www.eastcountychamber.org/chamber/chairmanclub.asp – SDG&E! And guess what Company has a board member at the chamber. SDG&E!
It is my opinion that it is time to hold the Chamber accountable to East County for this position.
The sad story of our chambers of commerce is not limited to the East County, and with each “supporter” of the powerlink you can follow the money trail, although the ECCAC believes that the East County Chamber should have at least been the one that represented the interests of our east county, making it even more egregious. Maybe we need a new chamber.
Congressman Bilbray co-authors a bill to exempt solar projects from an environmental impact report, while
accepting LARGE donations from Sempra Energy
Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-San Diego) has coauthored H.R. 964, a measure that would exempt any solar energy project on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands from Environmental Impact Report (EIR) requirements. Bilbray’s third largest campaign contributor was Sempra Energy, which seeks to import power from desert solar farms on BLM lands.
SUNRISE Powerlink earns money for SDG&E and Sempra even if its never used
According to a recent artcle in the Wall Street Jounral, Sempra Energy (SRE) sees earnings next year growing 15% from this year’s estimate, putting 2010 expectations above Wall Street’s, as the parent of San Diego Gas & Electric anticipates much lower capital spending for the next five years. Per the article, much of the spending, and increase in earnings, will be tied to construction of SDG&E’s $2 billion Sunrise Powerlink transmission line. While utility customers will foot the bill for the new line, SDG&E will earn a guaranteed 11.5% rate of return for operating it, under federal regulations. The company could earn $1.5 billion over the life of the project, according to regulatory estimates.
See Supervisor Dianne Jacob’s speech under “Alternatives to the Powerlink”
UCAN explains rate increase of 9% coming soon to San Diego – see this link
SDG&E obejcted to a Clean Energy mandate – again?
Did you know that the Sunrise Powerlink is not the first transmission line that SDG&E has promised would carry renewable energy? Under cross-examination by the Utility Consumers Action Network’s Michael Shames, Niggli admitted that the Southwest Powerlink, which runs from Imperial Valley along the border into San Diego, currently carries somewhat less than 50 megawatts of geothermal energy. This despite promises by the company when it built the 2000-megawatt line in 1984 that it would be used mainly for renewable energy. At most, Niggli said, the line carried about 240 megawatts of renewable energy for about ten years.
