Jul 15 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ed Fletcher The Sacramento Bee, Calif.


The plan to build a 600 miles high-voltage power line across Northern California is officially dead, the agency behind the project concluded early Wednesday.

The $1.5 billion project had been proposed to move electricity from future wind, solar and geothermal projects in Lassen County to power customers in urban areas. The project had been dogged by frustrated landowners since proposed routes were put to paper.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility was the first to step away from the project, announcing two weeks ago they would have no further involvement. Yesterday, power suppliers in Modesto and Turlock also pulled their funding.

The project was pushed by the Transmission Agency of Northern California -- TANC -- is a consortium of 15 municipal power providers. SMUD, the group's largest partner, was expected to pay for 35 percent of the transmission line's cost.

SMUD spokeswoman Elisabeth Brinton said the district backed away due to regulatory and financial uncertainties -- not because of public pressure against the project.

Opposition started with landowners concerned about power lines encroaching on their property, but it snowballed once city, county and state lawmakers -- caught off-guard by the project -- began peppering the agency with questions and concerns.

Before the apparent implosion of the project, Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, was highly critical of how the utilities had reached out to the public about the project.

"Where you put the lines and how you site it is very important," Wolk said. "This has been done in a very arrogant fashion with very little opportunity for the public to affect the decision."

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Call The Bee's Ed Fletcher, (916) 321-1269.

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