Heinrich: Deal with feds paves way for SunZia transmission line

The 515-mile SunZia transmission line, which would carry wind and solar energy for Western states, has a “very high” probability of finally being built in New Mexico and Arizona, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said Monday. Heinrich, a Democrat from Albuquerque, said the biggest obstacle to the project in New Mexico had been removed with a compromise between the developer and the U.S. Defense Department. SunZia agreed last spring to bury sections of its transmission line so as not to interfere with training missions at the northern extension of White Sands Missile Range. This change in the construction plan will increase the project’s cost, which initially was estimated at $1.2 billion, said Ian Calkins, a spokesman for SunZia. But a volunteer organization in the San Pedro River Valley of Arizona that opposes the SunZia project said Heinrich’s assessment was off base. “We do not believe that the entirety of this project can be funded and built,” said Norm “Mick” Meader, co-chairman of the Cascabel Working Group. He said the eastern portion of the line that is so important to New Mexico is not feasible economically. Utilities in California would have to commit to buying blocks of power for the project ever to reach construction, and that has not happened, Meader said. “I think that Sen. Heinrich is entirely unrealistic about this project. He is enamored with it for its mythical renewable energy potential, and history is likely to show him how naive he was,” Meader said. “Pardon my harsh words for the senator, but someone has to inject some realism into this discussion.”...more