Re "A powerful champion of a power line," April 27
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's support for San Diego Gas & Electric's controversial Sunrise Powerlink route through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is deplorable.
The California Public Utility Commission's massive draft environmental impact report for this $1.3-billion project concluded that new local sources of power generation in San Diego County -- including solar, wind and biomass -- were a superior alternative to building 150 miles of transmission lines. The Powerlink's corridor of 160-foot-high steel towers would ruin the view, imperil natural resources and diminish the sense of solitude in one of California's most magnificent state parks.
If the governor were truly visionary, he would oppose this boondoggle and champion the idea of thousands of new solar photovoltaic panels on the sun-drenched rooftops of San Diego.