Staying caught up on the "Sunrise Powerlink"

Here are some ways to stay up to date on the "Sunrise Powerlink."

1) Regularly check the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) web sites

• Main "Sunrise Powerlink" web site for the CPUC process
• "Sunrise Powerlink" web site for the CPUC's environmental review documents

2) Get on the CPUC's two "Sunrise Powerlink" information lists. Yep, there are two lists and you need to get on both. Send an email requesting to be added to sunrise@aspeneg.com and public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov.

3) Track the "Sunrise Powerlink" in the media at Google News and Yahoo News. (At Yahoo, be sure to click "News" before doing your search. Otherwise, it will search the entire Internet, not just news articles.)

I have found it necessary to look at both sites although neither will give you the smaller papers such as The Alpine Sun. Letters to the editor and some op-eds also will not show up in those news services. You can also set Google and Yahoo to automatically notify you when they find "Sunrise Powerlink" articles.

If you can't bear doing that, the best single web site for tracking Powerlink media is from Rancho Peñasquitos Concerned Citizens. It doesn't have everything, but it's much better than SDG&E's media clips web site.

Update (2/19/08): The San Diego Smart Energy Solutions media page is also excellent. It doesn't go back as far in time as the RPCC site, but has letters to the editor and other things not included on the RPCC site.

Photo: San Diego's existing 500 kV transmission line, the "Southwest Powerlink." This picture was taken in Proctor Valley. To get a sense of how large these lines are, click on the photo. The two blips at the bottom of the tower are teenagers on dirt bikes.