Fact Sheet On The Sunzia Power Transmission Line And Who To Write To Stop This Project

SunZia Fact Sheet and Contact List - Who to Write to Stop this Project Below are some facts about the SunZia proposal and who you can write to help stop this environmentally destructive project. This is a partner article to another at: http://arizona.typepad.com/safeenergyanalyst/2012/08/sunzia-the-making-of-a-slave-state-first-power-then-transmission.html However, this factsheet is from the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club. 1) This is a transmission project, and does not involve approval of any renewable energy projects. No one knows exactly how much renewable energy generation will result from building the proposed transmission lines and support towers. 2) A 2008 economic feasibility study has established that transmitting the proportion of renewable energy claimed (81 to 94%) in the BLM's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is very unlikely to occur, because this mix would not be economically competitive in the absence of a CO2 emissions tax. The same study concluded that under current market conditions, the most likely energy mix to result in actual power purchase agreements would consist mostly of fossil fueled energy. The BLM's Environmental Impact Statement never acknowledged these findings, despite repeated submission of this third party study by local stakeholder groups. This violates federal regulations regarding the use of the best available data in the EIS. 3) The owners of the SunZia project also own a very large planned and permitted natural gas fired generation plant in southeastern Arizona that is located along their proposed transmission lines. The BLM never acknowledged the relationship between the owner's interests in the two proposed projects, despite the disclosure of this relationship by the owners to another federal agency (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). This violates federal regulations regarding the use of the best available data in the EIS. 4) The SunZia project would open up a new industrial scale infrastructure corridor on 40% of its proposed route, most importantly through environmentally sensitive lands along the Rio Grande and San Pedro Rivers. On one route segment alternative, over 80% of the proposed path would be through previously undisturbed lands. 5) Other proposed transmission projects, such as the Southline Project, would co-locate with existing infrastructure and disturbed lands to a much higher degree than the proposed SunZia project. SunZia is a project that would cause significant new impacts to our dwindling wildlands, and would not live up to its purported renewable energy benefits. To email your Representatives regarding these points, especially regarding the use of best available data in the EIS (points 2 and 3): Rep. Ron Barber: https://barber.house.gov/contact/email-me Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick: https://kirkpatrick.house.gov/contact/email-me Rep. Raul Grijalva: https://grijalvaforms.house.gov/email-raul To email the head of the Bureau of Land Management: Principal Deputy Director: Neil Kornze: director@blm.gov To send a message to the President's staff: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/old To send an email to the Albuquerque Journal: Sharon Hendrix / Journal Editorial Writer/ shendrix@abqjournal.com / 505-823-3846 Dan Herrera / Editorial Page Editor/ dherrera@abqjournal.com / 505-823-3810 To send an email to the Tucson Weekly: Dan Gibson/ Editor/ dan@tucsonlocalmedia.com To send an email to the Arizona Daily Star: letters@azstarnet.com