FRIENDS OF EDGEWOOD NATURAL PRESERVE

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Those who admire the celebrated spring floral displays at Edgewood can't help being distracted by the ugly, environmentally damaging and potentially unsafe PG&E transmission towers that cross the preserve.

PG&E now proposes to make the situation worse by building a new 230 kV transmission line across the preserve as part of the new 27-mile-long Jefferson-Martin transmission project. The proposal would entail a wider right of way, installation of much taller towers, new concrete foundations, and long-term disturbance for access and maintenance.

Some of the most important habitat for serpentine species is below existing towers. Perhaps even worse, PG&E has proposed new towers across 280 from the park, in "The Triangle" area bordered by 280, Cañada Road, and Edgewood Road – the very same serpentine grassland that the Friends of Edgewood and the California Native Plant Society have fiercely protected for years, and home to several sensitive species.

Fortunately, one of the alternatives being studied would underground the new lines beneath Cañada Road and Skyline Boulevard as they go north through Edgewood and the San Francisco Watershed lands.

Environmental groups, including Committee for Green Foothills, Sierra Club, Friends of Edgewood, and CNPS, have called for undergrounding the existing 60 kV lines (along with the new 230 kV lines) and removing the existing towers.

Besides the obvious environmental benefits of avoiding impacts to sensitive plant and wildlife habitats, this proposal would increase safety from terrorism and vandalism, reduce impacts to neighboring communities from electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and improve operational reliability.

The Public Utilities Commission and PG&E are now reviewing comments on the 1,000-page draft Environmental Impact Report. Time will tell whether they will listen to reason—and the community—and make the decision that best balances safety, views, environmental protection, and public benefit with the need for these new transmission lines.

To find out more about this project, or to get involved in the fight to underground the new lines and remove these towers, visit www.GreenFoothills.org or contact Committee for Green Foothills Legislative Advocate Lennie Roberts at (650) 854-0449 or Lennie@GreenFoothills.org.

Send mail to wm at this domain with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve. Last modified: January 20, 2008.