March 3, 2007
California

PUC OKs massive power line towers in northern SCV

Taller electrical towers are set to traverse the northern part of the Santa Clarita Valley after state utility authorities Thursday approved construction of a planned power line project that would replace some power line towers in the city with ones that are 70 feet taller.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved the Antelope-Pardee Transmission Project that would transport electricity generated from future wind farms in the Tehachapi area to Edison’s Pardee substation located in the Valencia Industrial Center.

Multiple electrical towers about 150 feet high supporting three transmission lines are set to be removed and replaced with ones 220 feet high that support six lines. Those towers and electrical lines run through what city documents say is five miles of residential neighborhoods in the Santa Clarita Valley.

“Our action today represents an absolutely critical step in alleviating the transmission constraints that have limited our ability thus far to take advantage of the substantial wind resource in the Tehachapi region,” CPUC president Michael R. Peevey said in a statement.

The city has opposed the project, and sent a letter to the CPUC in mid-February stating its case.

“The city of Santa Clarita believes that the environmental review process for the … project has circumvented the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and that analysis contained in the final document is flawed,” the city’s letter states. “In addition, the city feels that its comments, concerns and input during the public review period … have not been fully considered or adequately addressed.”

The electrical towers are set to run from the Antelope Valley south across the Angeles National Forest and head west from the Haskell Canyon area. They would then make a southwestern turn to the substation and cross through the valley’s more northern residential communities in Saugus and Valencia.

By Kristopher Daams
Signal Staff Writer

the-signal.com

3 March 2007


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/03/03/puc-oks-massive-power-line-towers-in-northern-scv/