Restraining order non-starter, Ocotillo windmill project to continue  

Credit:  By William Howell, Sept. 30, 2012 | San Diego Reader | www.sandiegoreader.com ~~

U.S. District Court judge William Hayes dismissed a request for a restraining order against the Ocotillo Express Wind Energy Project late last week. He found that the plaintiffs, CARES (Community Advocates for Renewable Energy Stewardship) lacked standing in the case. Attorney Bill Pate had represented CARES.

Ocotillo residents and other groups, including Native Americans, had been attempting to halt the construction of 112 towers, each 452 feet tall, in the valley surrounding the village. Their claim was that natural species (including bighorn sheep) would be obliterated, natural drainage would be altered, and that ancient worship and burial sites would be disturbed.

The project, on Bureau of Land Management acreage, is directly south of the southern boundary of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and north of Interstate 8, at the base of the Jacumba Mountains. You will see it as you enter the desert eastbound toward El Centro and Yuma.