The Green Blog Network: Clean Energy Transmission Lines

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Hello, this is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with another California Report.

This week, I was in San Diego for the groundbreaking of a new transmission line, the Sunrise Powerlink.

This line will carry 1,000 megawatts of clean energy from the Imperial Valley to San Diego—enough to power 650,000 homes....

In just the last year we have approved 5,000 megawatts of renewable projects like wind, solar and geothermal.

Many are in areas with vast open space like the Mojave Desert and Imperial Valley.

The challenge is moving that power to where people live and work. Because you can have all the power in the world out in the desert, but if you can’t bring it in, you have nothing.

For that, of course, we need transmission lines. Right now only one transmission line connects the Imperial Valley to San Diego. And it is near capacity.

That line is tired. It’s exhausted. It cannot handle anymore.

That is why this week’s groundbreaking is so important. Not only will the Sunrise Powerlink carry enough renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons a year, but it will also create thousands of jobs at a time that we need those jobs the most.

This all sounds great, doesn’t it?

Great for our economy, great for jobs and great for our environment.

As I’ve always said, you can protect both the environment and the economy.

But you will be surprised to learn that it took five years to get this transmission line through the permitting process.

There were obstacles at every turn.

There is no reason for that.

It is inexcusable that it takes five years to build a transmission line, or 10 years to build an extra lane on the freeway, or 20 years to build a new airport runway.

In China, those things get built in four years.

You see, infrastructure is so important.

We have a growing population so, therefore, we have to upgrade our infrastructure.

So it is very important for environmentalists, businesses, Democrats and Republicans, for everyone to get together and get the permitting done quicker...

LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE Broadcast on either or both links ABOVE

The Green Blog Network