voiceofsandiego.org: Cafesandiego... San Diego's Earth Day Heroes

Earth Day is officially April 22. But in San Diego the big eco-fiesta happens annually at the Balboa Park Earth Day extravaganza hosted by San Diego Earthworks. And that will be this Sunday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (please ride your bike, walk or take the bus -- we need to avoid the annual Earth Fair traffic jam).

This past year has been an interesting one for the planet. While it is still hipper than ever to be green,

the three main presidential candidates are busy pandering to voters (Hillary downing shots, McCain repealing gas taxes, and Obama bowling) with scad mention of the environmental crisis. Even our own green guvernator blew his environ credentials big-time by supporting the construction of a private toll road through a beloved California State Park.

But despite how lame most of our elected officials have been on the environment, the new rise of China as the world’s biggest contributor of greenhouse gasses there are a few folks in San Diego and in California who organized to save two state parks in San Diego County over the past year, reminding that the reason we live here is to enjoy the natural environment, not stare at ugly toll roads and power lines.

The Save Trestles Team
February 6, 2008, will go down as one of the greatest days in history of surfing and the California environmental movement. And it came down to this: there is no defensible position when it comes down to proposals that favor destroying our state parks.

Toll roads do not belong in state parks. Period.

And the people who got that were the amazing and passionate defenders of San Onofre State Beach Park involved in the Save Trestles Coalition from throughout San Diego and Orange Counties, California and the United States. If you were part of the organizing coalition www.savetrestles.org (you all know who you were) I salute your passion, dedication, organizing skill and understanding that protecting open space is the most important way of defending our planet and the natural resources that make California worth living in.

And if you attended the Big Wednesday meeting in Del Mar or wrote letters, made phone calls, signed petitions and did whatever it took to stop the TCA (they are still out there trying -- lying it up as usual) pat yourself on the back and get back out there and remember the fight is far from over.

This anti-Powerlink coalition is once again a very large one -- and is energized by the passion, anger and bitterness of thousands of backcountry residents outraged by the attempt of Sempra to destroy the last remaining open space areas and the greatest state park in California. Please support their efforts and don’t believe Sempra’s hype. The Sunrise Power Link is 1950s planning meets 21st century spin.

Bad for ratepayers. Bad for taxpayers. And bad for our planet.

See you at the Earth Fair.

-- SERGE DEDINA

As far as I can tell, the Sunrise Powerlink would be a genuinely positive step for the environment, even though it does have the negative impact of going through Anza Borrego. There's an enormous amount of spin thrown out by both sides that is difficult to wade through, but it seems pretty indisputable that there are large, untapped sources of renewable energy in Imperial County, and the Powerlink would help spur their development. We need new sources of carbon-free energy and it looks to me like the Powerlink is the best way to make it happen.

Posted by Simple Guy | reply to this comment
April 16, 2008 7:21 pm

Hi, Serge, Thanks for speaking out. The hype over the Sunrise Powerlink is disgusting, as well as expensive ! And how much is the political pressure costing SEMPRA in Washington and Sacramento ? If we added that to the 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS + + + that it will cost to build it, not to mention the cost of purchasing the rights to pass over properties that are adamently against it, we could have some huge fund with which to provide solar rebates to all of the residential, industrial, and commercial users. There is no way that SEMPRA is going to let that happen. Instead, they will build new gas-fired power plants on both sides of the border and use their "Hot" LNG to fuel them. They will be sending THAT energy NORTH, not green power south. Trestles was awesome too. Everyone CONGRATS !

Posted by San Marcos says, | reply to this comment
April 17, 2008 5:46 am

There is NOTHING to stop SEMPRA from producing their energy in San Diego and using the Sunrise Powerlink to send that energy north - to Riverside County and elsewhere. Nobody has noticed just how many power plants they are building and how much LNG they will be burning. We need to put a stop to this as it REALLY INCREASES our carbon footprint in San Diego County. Please, take notice of this and hopefully people can become aware. We will just be creating power for other areas and they will be clean while we will be polluted. Watch out for the political pressure. The Greenhouse efect will be terrible for San Diego and the world. If we could utilize solar and wind power ourselves, each and every one who could, we would lessen any negative effects. Thanks for all you do.

Posted by San Marcos says II | reply to this comment
April 17, 2008 5:59 am

San Marcos makes one of those anti-Powerlink arguments that, if true, would be a strong argument. The problem is, it's very difficult to tell if it's true or not. Will Sempra really ditch all the renewable promises and just build gas-fired plants instead? What evidence is there for that speculation? From what I've heard, financing for gas-fired plants has dried up because of the declining supply of natural gas - banks won't finance them because they expect gas to become so expensive in the next decade, they won't be able to recoup their investment. The sun and wind, however, are free and aren't expected to increase in price anytime soon.

Posted by Simple Guy | reply to this comment
April 17, 2008 6:48 am

"Simple guy", which sections of SDG&E's PR Group do you work for? Everyone knows that most of the proposed renewable energy projects in the Imperial Valley, including Sterling's, are just pipe dreams that will never happen. We also know that Sempra plans to use the Sunrise line to import power from its existing Mexicali gas powerplant and the Henderson, Nevada gas plant it just sold to SDG&E at a huge discount as part of the settlement of its gas market rigging case with the CPUC. Stop wasting Voice readers time with your lame propaganda.

Posted by Watcher | reply to this comment
April 17, 2008 10:30 am

Watcher, I don't work for any PR group and my only connection to SDG&E is that they provide the electricity and gas to my home. And no, everyone doesn't know that all the proposed renewable energy projects in the Imperial Valley are a sham. I'm no engineer, but isn't a big open desert relatively close to urban areas a pretty good location for solar power development? Just like the 350 megawatts of solar power currently being generated at the SEGS plant in the Mojave Desert? link (thanks wikipedia) I think we could use a few more of those.

Posted by Simple Guy | reply to this comment
April 17, 2008 6:15 pm

I sent a comment yesterday on this post but it never got posted. Any particular reason the Voice is editing out my voice?

Posted by District 5 Voter | reply to this comment
April 18, 2008 10:09 am

San Diego's Earth Day Heroes

Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:17 AM PDT

-- SERGE DEDINA