Arizona kills Edison power line
Arizona utility regulators Wednesday rejected a plan by Southern California Edison to build a $581-million power transmission line to carry electricity generated at plants in Arizona to customers in California.
“I don’t want to be an energy farm for California -- that’s my bottom line,” Arizona Corporation Commission member Bill Mundell said. He questioned whether California had done enough to meet the energy needs of itself and the region.
The commission voted 5-0 against the application by Rosemead-based Edison International’s utility arm, which serves most of Southern California.
The commission said the project would benefit California utility customers at the expense of their Arizona counterparts while hampering Arizona’s ability to meet its own energy needs.
“California wants to drop a giant extension cord in Arizona and draw out our power,” Commission Kris Mayes said. “Arizona’s energy future is at issue in this case.”
The proposed 230-mile transmission line route -- including about 100 miles in Arizona -- would carry electricity from a power junction near several independently owned gas-fired plants near the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix to a power junction near Palm Springs.
