High-volt decision

Judge suggests PG&E separate power, residents.

By Justin Nyberg | Staff Writer
Published on Thursday, June 10, 2004
 

REDWOOD CITY -- Burlingame residents and South San Francisco businesses have won a major victory in the battle to steer a proposed set of high-voltage power lines away from sensitive residential and corporate areas in those cities.

An administrative law judge with the California Public Utilities Commission found that the potential health effects from electrical and magnetic fields associated with the PG&E transmission lines justified moving them away from heavily inhabited areas.

At the same time, Judge Charlotte TerKeurst agreed with PG&E's assertion that the project was needed to keep up with growing power demands in San Francisco and the Peninsula.

The $207 million project calls for the installation of 27 miles of 230-kilovolt transmission lines between the Jefferson substation in Woodside and the Martin substation in Brisbane.

Burlingame residents have vigorously fought PG&E's plans to bury part of the line beneath Trousdale Drive, a 1.5-mile-long residential street near a hospital and three schools, since the project was announced in September 2002.

"It's wonderful news for our citizens and for our young people who go to the schools, [and] the patients in the hospitals" said Burlingame Councilmember Mike Coffey.

A final decision on the project's route will be made by the five-member California Public Utilities Commission, but the judge's ruling will likely factor heavily on their decision.

PG&E spokesman Lester Olmstead-Rose said the plan favored by TerKeurst was "feasible." It calls for the southern portion of the electrical lines to be buried under Skyline Boulevard and Canata Road, except for a brief section that will be raised onto existing electrical towers through a watershed area along the western edges of Burlingame, Millbrae and San Bruno.

TerKeurst ruled that route was preferable because it avoids residences and businesses along Trousdale Drive and El Camino Real and "is more consistent with the values and wishes of the communities along the route."

Along the northern section, TerKeurst ruled, the line should travel westward under San Bruno Avenue and follow the BART right-of-way to Daly City, where it will cross San Bruno Mountain under Guadalupe Canyon Parkway.

South San Francisco officials and businesses protested a draft environmental study that found a shorter route through the corporate Oyster Point area on the city's western side would be "superior." The city argued that the route would disrupt businesses along the line and would cross through toxic landfill areas.

The judge's decision concerning the northern section is considered tentative until further studies can be conducted on the affect of electrical and magnetic fields (EMFs) on small neighborhoods in Daly City and South San Francisco.

The CPUC's environmental impact report on the project ignored concerns about the health effects of high-voltage electrical fields on residents living near the transmission lines because there is no scientific consensus about the risks posed by such fields ---- although some studies suggest they contribute to higher rates of childhood leukemia and other health problems.

Part of the judge's ruling requires the CPUC to reconsider its policy towards EMFs in environmental impact studies, a decision that could have huge ramifications for the planning of future utility projects.

Not all interest groups are happy with the route endorsed by the judge. The group 280 Corridor Concerned Citizens proposed moving the new power lines farther away from Burlingame and Hillsborough, while taking the opportunity to bury three miles of an existing, unsightly 60-kilovolt line to improve views along the corridor.

CPUC commissioners can adopt the administrative law judge's ruling, reject it outright or offer an alternative route. A final decision on the project could come as early as July 8.