Transmission Line

PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric, Trans-Elect Inc. and the U.S. Department of Energy agreed Friday on a $300-million upgrade of electricity-transmission lines connecting Northern and Southern California. The Energy Department said it expects to choose an engineering, procurement and construction contractor by June to build an 84-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line along the Path 15 electricity route.

SAN DIEGO - Poor planning, failure to share critical information and a series of human errors led to the massive blackout in September that plunged a swath of Southern California, Arizona and Baja California into darkness, according to a report issued Tuesday by two energy agencies. The 150-page report, produced after an eight-month study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp., portrays the complex electrical grid as vulnerable to a single small-sized failure - in this case, a transmission line in Arizona that went down and triggered a "cascading and uncontrolled" blackout that left 2.7 million customers in the dark.

A major California utility trying to shore up its sources of electricity isn't giving up its fight to build a major transmission line, despite Arizona regulators' attempt to short-circuit the project. The 230-mile high-voltage line would make it easier for Southern California Edison, a utility serving most of Southern California, to import electricity from natural-gas-fueled "merchant" generating plants in Arizona.

A towering steel utility pole, as tall as a giant sequoia, spirals upward just behind Cris Garcia's backyard in Chino Hills, close enough to cast a shadow on his kids' swing set and, he fears, to hear the hum of the 500-kilovolt power lines that may soon go up. The towers popped up along the gentle rolling hills of this upscale San Bernardino County community earlier this year, sending the simmering local opposition into a full boil and drawing more...

A towering steel utility pole, as tall as a giant sequoia, spirals upward just behind Cris Garcia's backyard in Chino Hills, close enough to cast a shadow on his kids' swing set and, he fears, to hear the hum of the 500-kilovolt power lines that may soon go up. The towers popped up along the gentle rolling hills of this upscale San Bernardino County community earlier this year, sending the simmering local opposition into a full boil and drawing more...

Los Angeles officials said the city may abandon plans to build a highly controversial "green" power transmission line through unspoiled desert and wildlife preserves on a route east of the San Bernardino Mountains, focusing instead on alternative pathways mostly along an interstate highway where high-voltage lines already exist. The Department of Water and Power's proposed 85-mile-long Green Path North transmission line has faced fierce opposition from more than a dozen community and environmental groups, creating a political chink in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's efforts to cast himself as the leader of the "cleanest, greenest big city in America."

SAN DIEGO - Poor planning, failure to share critical information and a series of human errors led to the massive blackout in September that plunged a swath of Southern California, Arizona and Baja California into darkness, according to a report issued Tuesday by two energy agencies. The 150-page report, produced after an eight-month study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp., portrays the complex electrical grid as vulnerable to a single small-sized failure - in this case, a transmission line in Arizona that went down and triggered a "cascading and uncontrolled" blackout that left 2.7 million customers in the dark.

Days after lightning struck both a transmission line and antenna, classical music station KUSC-FM (91.5) said its broadcast signal has been restored to about 95% strength. General Manager Eric DeWeese said that KUSC will not be at full strength for perhaps another 10 days, until a new 300-foot transmission line can be obtained and installed. He estimated the cost at between $38,000 and $39,000. "The remaining 5% is not as robust," he said of the station's signal. "But the fact the phone calls have stopped indicates our listeners are getting it."

PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. utility won approval for its plan to build a controversial high-voltage transmission line south of San Francisco. Pacific Gas & Electric can spend as much as $207 million to complete the 230-kilovolt line by mid-2006 under a plan unanimously approved by the California Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco.

Re "Issa's Project Shouldn't Sidestep Federal Review," Nov. 10: Writer Paul Carlton misleads readers on several points related to the proposed Lake Elsinore Advanced Pump Storage facility and legislation I introduced providing for a route for a transmission line to connect that project to California's electricity transmission grid. When the project is completed, it will provide much-needed clean hydro-electric energy to Southern California. The federal government already owns most of the land necessary for the project, and contrary to Carlton's claims, no wilderness areas will be affected.

A federal court Tuesday rebuffed the U.S. Department of Energy's attempt to establish national interest corridors for new high-voltage electric transmission lines that would cover 100 million acres in 10 states, including state and national parks in the Mojave Desert. The three-judge panel from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that the energy agency failed to adequately consult affected states or conduct federally mandated environmental reviews in identifying vast swaths of land as suitable for fast-track treatment of applications to construct transmission facilities to supply areas of inadequate capacity.

Google Inc. is backing a plan to lay undersea cables to connect proposed windmills off the mid-Atlantic coast, a step the Internet giant hopes will boost wind power as an energy source. The offshore wind power transmission line would stretch 350 miles from New Jersey to Virginia and could supply enough electricity to serve about 1.9 million households. But the ambitious project, which could cost billions of dollars, faces major hurdles as federal subsidies for construction of wind power installations are set to expire in 2012.

Facing enormous costs and fierce opposition from environmental groups, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Wednesday announced that it has dropped plans to build an 85-mile-long "green" power transmission line across desert wilderness preserves and scenic ridgelines. Controversy surrounding the proposed Green Path North Transmission Line had tarnished Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to portray himself as the leader of the "cleanest, greenest big city in America." Villaraigosa was unavailable for comment.

Three state biologists and a contract pilot were killed Tuesday when their helicopter crashed in rugged terrain in the Sierra National Forest in Madera County, authorities said. The state Fish and Game biologists were surveying deer when the Bell 206 copter clipped a large electrical transmission line and plummeted to the ground, the Madera County Sheriff's Department said. Debris scattered across a quarter-mile in an area called North Fork near Redinger Lake, authorities said.

Southern California Edison got the green light Thursday to build the final segments of a nearly $2-billion transmission line that will connect customers with renewable energy produced by windmills. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the construction of the last 173 miles of Edison's 250-mile Tehachapi transmission project in Kern County. The line will be able to transmit as much as 4,500 megawatts of electricity produced from wind, enough power for nearly 3 million homes.

Los Angeles officials said the city may abandon plans to build a highly controversial "green" power transmission line through unspoiled desert and wildlife preserves on a route east of the San Bernardino Mountains, focusing instead on alternative pathways mostly along an interstate highway where high-voltage lines already exist. The Department of Water and Power's proposed 85-mile-long Green Path North transmission line has faced fierce opposition from more than a dozen community and environmental groups, creating a political chink in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's efforts to cast himself as the leader of the "cleanest, greenest big city in America."

Re "A powerful champion of a power line," April 27 This article is in our view misleading. I'm writing this letter because our request for a correction was denied. In this article's headline and first sentence, The Times reported that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is "pushing" state regulators to approve a plan to build an energy transmission line "through" Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. However, nowhere in the lengthy article did the reporter provide anything beyond weak, connect-the-dot, circumstantial evidence to support those claims.

Days after lightning struck both a transmission line and antenna, classical music station KUSC-FM (91.5) said its broadcast signal has been restored to about 95% strength. General Manager Eric DeWeese said that KUSC will not be at full strength for perhaps another 10 days, until a new 300-foot transmission line can be obtained and installed. He estimated the cost at between $38,000 and $39,000. "The remaining 5% is not as robust," he said of the station's signal. "But the fact the phone calls have stopped indicates our listeners are getting it."

President Obama, offering the first specifics on a key element in his $825-billion stimulus package, said Saturday that it would add 3,000 miles of electric transmission lines and double the nation's use of wind and solar power within three years. But he pressed ahead in the face of continued Republican resistance to his ideas.