On Friday, Southern California Edison submitted to the state its plan to place powerlines along Highway 198.

Opponents of that plan wasted no time in announcing two local meetings to prevent it from happening.

Southern California Edison (SCE) applied to the California Public Utilities Commission for authorization to build the Cross Valley Loop Transmission Project, a new, 19-mile, 220-kilovolt transmission line that would allow SCE to increase its capacity to deliver electricity to Tulare County during periods of high electricity demand. The county is one of the fastest growing regions in California.

SCE proposes to build the new transmission line to connect two existing transmission lines from SCE's hydroelectric facilities in the Sierra Nevadas to SCE's Rector Substation, southeast of Visalia. The towers and transmission lines would run through the city of Farmersville and the community of Lemon Cove.

The project SCE is seeking to build is similar to a project proposal that was shared with Tulare County residents in late 2006 and early 2007. While SCE has identified three potential routes for the project, the first alternative is SCE's preferred route because it has the least amount of environmental impacts and is the least costly.

“The construction of the Cross Valley Transmission Project would provide new facilities that would help minimize the likelihood of unanticipated outages in Tulare County,” said Lee Starck SCE's vice president of local public affairs. “Completing the proposed project is essential to meeting the region's energy needs.”

While local residents understand the need for more energy, they don't agree with the path that SCE has chosen. That's why two meetings have been planned in the next week to organize opposition to the preferred route on June 7 and 12.

Farmersville is the route's most impacted city. A special informational meeting in Spanish and English will be held at 6:30 p.m. June 7 at at the Bethel Spanish Assembly Church. Participants are asked to bring their SCE account number with them.

The June 12 session will be held at 7 p.m. in the Exeter Memorial Building. Signups for membership in PACE (Protect Agriculture, Communities and the Environment) will be taken at both events.

“At this time we don't object to Edison's need for additional lines and to improve its service to Tulare County,” said George McEwen, chairman of the PACE Steering Committee. “We just want them to choose the most logical and least disruptive location which they describe in their brochure as Alternate Route 3, the Stokes Mountain route. It would pass over only eight grazing land property owners to join the Rector line east of Orosi,” McEwen said.

Route 1, the preferred route, will impact well over 200 property owners as it passes through valuable agricultural lands. The PACE group's research shows this path would pass over, or come in close proximity to, at least 89 homes, seven commercial parcels, five industrial sites, one church, a historic cemetery, a children's playground and three schools.

In Farmersville's case, it cuts an economically devastating line through the middle of the city's planned industrial park.

Additionally, the 10-story high towers, poles and lines of Route 1 will be visible to travelers along Highway 198, the county's designated scenic corridor and a popular tourism route for U.S. and international visitors traveling to the high Sierra national parks and recreational opportunities.

“These are huge, county-wide impacts,” said McEwen. “It just does not make sense for Edison to choose this route, when their Alternative Route 3 has so few negative impacts.”

McEwen said PACE and its consultants plan to present strong and comprehensive arguments against Route 1 and in favor of Route 3 before the California Public Utilities Commission which will hear arguments on the Edison proposal. “We will be backed by concrete facts and figures in favor of the least disruptive of the three routes.”

McEwen extended an invitation to all Tulare County residents to become involved in the fight by attending the meetings to learn more details. “We encourage any Tulare County resident who objects to the losses this line represents to our scenic values, our historical heritage and agricultural production to join us in this battle,” said McEwen.

During the next five years, SCE plans to invest approximately $5 billion to expand its system-wide transmission grid and access new economical and renewable resources for its customers to ensure that Southern California has the robust power delivery system needed by a growing region. Southern California Edison, an Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, is California's largest electric utility. SCE serves a population of more than 13 million via 4.8 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

For additional information about the project, go to www.sce.com/crossvalley.

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