NM Rancher fights SunZia powerline

I am writing this to give reasons for opposition to the SunZia project.

Many readers might say that “green energy”is the future. And, in the long term they might be right. But when something is pushed before it’s time, the results are usually bad. I won’t go into details on other projects that were pushed ahead of market forces and turned out poorly, but history is replete with them. Suffice to say, those that fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.

When SunZia applied before the Arizona Corporation Commissioners, the chairman and one other dissented with giving SunZia approval. In his dissent, Chairman Little gave 4 reasons. I have added two additional reasons for New Mexico. The arguments are written first with the counter argument after.

1. SunZia claimed it would reduce transmission congestion. There was no proof of this claim. In fact, for most of the distance in New Mexico, there is no parallel line. So, no congestion.
2. SunZia claimed it would support the development of additional renewable energy sources. This is speculative. Government agencies are not supposed to be in the business of market speculation.
3. SunZia claimed it would give an option for compliance with ever tightening federal air quality restrictions. Again, this speculated that federal air quality restrictions will be tightened. This has not happened under the current administration. In fact, regulations have been loosened.
4. SunZia claimed it would provide needed jobs and State and local revenues. This is not the case. The construction jobs will be given to companies that specialize in power line construction. The number of jobs has steadily decreased from 43,000 to 3,946 with only 203 are expected to be continuous after construction is complete. That pales in comparison to the jobs lost at White Sands Missile Range. In a public meeting, we were told they had lost 940 jobs and were likely to lose more because of SunZia.
5. The chairman also dissented on the need for the renewable power in Arizona. This does not apply since none of the power is scheduled to remain in New Mexico.
6. In New Mexico, the Bureau Of Land Management failed to adequately address scenic, historic archeological and environmental issues. One example is that the line was scheduled to be buried. The map showed the burial right on top of an archeological site. When we asked about this, the response was “What site?” When we showed it to them, it was later described in the follow up Environmental Assessment as an Indian village. There was no concern for the dozens of petroglyphs in the area. When we contacted the local Isleta Pueblo tribe, they said they had never been informed. This is a violation of NEPA. Additionally, they also never addressed the amount of birds that will be killed by the above ground power lines. And they skirted the issue of ruining the view shed in central New Mexico.

I could go on, but suffice to say, this is a big problem for New Mexico. There is other information about burying power lines and the benefit in doing so at Responsible Electrical Transmission Alberta.

It needs to be stopped before the damage is irreversible.

Thanks

Tommy Lee

Lee has established a GoFundMe account, Fight SunZia

We are fighting the SunZia powerline. We want to preserve our views, protect the Rio Grande flightpath for waterfowl and our property rights against this totally unnecessary powerline.