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Utility: Green Path is necessary road into future
By Stacy Moore / Hi-Desert Star
MORONGO BASIN — “We are evaluating every possible option and every possible route in order to connect with renewable energy.”
That was the word from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesman Joe Ramallo last month, as he spoke in a brief telephone interview about his department’s Green Path North plans.
Green Path North would connect as-yet-unbuilt geothermal energy plants in the Salton Sea to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s existing transmission lines in Hesperia.
The path would require new access roads, microwave communication sites and a new switching station near Desert Hot Springs.
A June 2 report to the Bureau of Land Management from the Los Angeles DWP states the goal of all the Green Path partners is to select a route that meets project objectives “with the least impact on the environment and surrounding communities.”
It lists several benefits of improving the renewable energy supply, including:
Improving air quality;
Using sustainable energy resources;
Guarding against market fluctuations of fuel costs;
Reducing dependence on foreign sources of fuel.
The report describes a coal-dependent city utility under pressure to cut back its greenhouse gas emissions.
The state is requiring greenhouse emissions to be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, while the utility’s own commissioners set a goal of using 20 percent renewable energy for the sale of power by 2010.
The report concludes the LADWP and agencies like it must “increase clean, renewable power such as geothermal and solar — the very resources in the Salton Sea that Green Path North Project is designed to access and which there is currently no transmission line to Southern California.”
The phrase, “Currently, no ‘preferred route’ has been selected” is underlined in the report.
Routes identified in the report are:
Route A: Follows Interstate 10 west of Desert Hot Springs, crosses south and proceeds west to Interstate 15. The route parallels the I-15 through Cajon Pass to Hesperia. Length: 84 miles.
Route B: Follows the I-10 corridor along the same path as Route A but diverges at an undetermined location west of the Morongo Reservation. From there, the path travels north, crosses I-10 and then proceeds to I-15 and Hesperia. Length: 81 miles.
Route C (Hi-Desert route): Travels north from the new Desert Hot Springs switching station, paralleling existing power lines through the Big Morongo Area of Critical Environmental Concern, between the San Gorgonio Wilderness to the west and Joshua Tree National Park to the east. The route passes east of the Bighorn Mountain Wilderness, turns west and follows the northern boundary of the San Bernardino National Forest to Hesperia. Length: 79 miles.
Route D: Follows the same path as Route C but cuts north to intercept existing transmission lines east of Victorville. Length: 108 miles.
Routes E and F: From the new Desert Hot Springs switching station, travels east, generally paralleling I-10 and following an existing transmission corridor along the southern boundary of Joshua Tree National Park. The lines cross about 4 miles of the park’s southeast corner within the designated utility corridor. They go northward from Desert Center, then turn west to parallel Interstate 40. Length: Route E, 296 miles; Route F, 313 miles.
That was the word from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesman Joe Ramallo last month, as he spoke in a brief telephone interview about his department’s Green Path North plans.
Green Path North would connect as-yet-unbuilt geothermal energy plants in the Salton Sea to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s existing transmission lines in Hesperia.
The path would require new access roads, microwave communication sites and a new switching station near Desert Hot Springs.
A June 2 report to the Bureau of Land Management from the Los Angeles DWP states the goal of all the Green Path partners is to select a route that meets project objectives “with the least impact on the environment and surrounding communities.”
It lists several benefits of improving the renewable energy supply, including:
The report describes a coal-dependent city utility under pressure to cut back its greenhouse gas emissions.
The state is requiring greenhouse emissions to be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, while the utility’s own commissioners set a goal of using 20 percent renewable energy for the sale of power by 2010.
The report concludes the LADWP and agencies like it must “increase clean, renewable power such as geothermal and solar — the very resources in the Salton Sea that Green Path North Project is designed to access and which there is currently no transmission line to Southern California.”
The phrase, “Currently, no ‘preferred route’ has been selected” is underlined in the report.
Routes identified in the report are:
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