Palomar Mountain News

Have you heard? The State of California is planning a 500,000 volt transmission line to run right through the heart of Palomar Mountain. Concerned citizens are inviting you to meet up for some initial information to stop this project.

Already some residents have received letters from SDG&E which is one of the four companies that is bidding the transmission job across the mountain. The letters inform the property owner that SDG&E crews of 3 people will be on your property doing an environmental survey over a couple of months period of time. They aren’t asking permission, just stating that they will be there. When calling the number on the letter, the information given has usually been very vague. I was told they were just checking areas for potential power poles. I mentioned the area on East Grade was all off-grid and they would have very few new customers. They replied their survey teams were doing an environment survey for endangered species. With more research, we learn the ‘new poles’ would NOT carry residential power at all, it is to be a 500,000 volt transmission tower line, over the mountain with an unknown path to San Onofre.

This project is to carry 500,000 volts of power, apparently twice the size of any other transmission tower in San Diego County, from other states and the Imperial Valley to provide power to South Orange County. Other potential routes have been blocked. Clear-cutting through our old growth forest is their proposed path-of-the-hour.

You might have seen trucks with teams of surveyors around the mountain recently. Even though each property owner I have spoken to has contacted the number on the letter saying they are NOT to be on their land, they come anyway. One property owner saw a crew on his trail cam. A neighbor was called and rushed over as the crew told him they “had permission”. That was not correct, they were told NOT to trespass.

Ray Carpenter, George Ravenscroft and Yvonne Vaucher will be presenting info known to date. The meeting is to be 45 minutes in length.

Here is some info for your initial review from Yvonne:

“This SONGS transmission project (CASIO in coordination with the CPUC) has been in the works for over a year with State transmission plan approval in May 2023.   SONGS project  description: “A new 500 kV transmission line running west from the Arizona border into southern Imperial County, new 500 kV transmission lines angling up from southern Imperial County to northern San Diego County and extending into the southern LA Basin, and upgrades to the existing 500 kV and 230 kV lines along the Interstate 10 (I-10) corridor. Together, these upgrades provide access to east Riverside County, Imperial County and Arizona solar generation, Imperial Valley geothermal, and New Mexico wind generation;” CASIO News Release.

See highlighted text in both  CASIO attachments: Plan approval News release <<  https://www.caiso.com/Documents/caiso-2022-2023-transmission-plan-approved.pdf  & detailed ASIO Transmission Plan Draft (pg 95) -it appears we are in the final Phase 3  out for bid phase (highlighted  pgs 28-30); and the Jan 2024 SDG&E  news release.

From the transmission plan n.b. SONGS (San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station) << https://www.wecc.org/Reliability/SDGE%202024%20APR.pdf >>  is the search word for the Imperial Valley/North San Diego transmission project.

This is an issue of critical importance for the entire Palomar Mountain. The sooner we address this the better the chance of influencing the outcome.”

Please join us 2:00pm to approximately 2:45pm Sunday afternoon, April 21, 2024

Community Center House at Fire Station 21610 Crestline Road, Palomar Mountain, CA 92060

Hope to see you there,

Bonnie Phelps, Realtor on very beautiful Palomar Mountain and hope to keep it that way

760-533-1742

CA DRE # 01293655