By Miriam Raftery
February 28, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – In September, ECM reported 30 construction violations by SDG&E related to Sunrise Powerlink, including serious safety hazards that briefly grounded helicopters. Today, the San Diego UT reports 42 new citations for helicopter flights from October through January. These include flying too close to protected bighorn sheep, dropping another compressor, falling transmission wires, and a door plummeting off a helicopter.
SDG&E was also ordered to replace 10 shiny steel towers in Cleveland National Forest that were supposed to be dull grey. Ironically, state regulators at the CPUC have refused to order similar corrective action in Lakeside’s El Monte Valley, where an identical promise was made–and broken.
SDG&E representatives assured residents and planners in a public meeting witnessed by ECM’s editor that towers would be “camouflaged” in green, brown or grey, but instead erected shiny silver that residents say have ruined a view once likened to Yosemite’s El Capitan.
SDG&E has insisted that it has taken corrective action on safety issues, noting the magnitude of the massive construction project, UT San Diego reports.
For details on prior violations, see http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/7313
For the most recent violation details, see http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/28/sdge-logs-42-more-powerlink-violations/