Protect Our Communities Foundation

LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST COUNTY OVER DECARBONIZATION PLAN

 

Hearing April 5 for County Supervisors to weigh the Regional Decarbonization Framework

Public urged to speak at meeting and submit comments by March 31 deadline at project website

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview with Bill Powers, Protect Our Communities Foundation, recorded four days before the nonprofit group filed a lawsuit against the County.  The interview originally aired on KNSJ radio. View video of  interview.

March 8, 2023 (San Diego) – The Protect Our Communities Foundation (POCF) has filed a lawsuit against the County of San Diego contending that the County hired a  biased utility industry consultant direct the County’s Regional Decarbonization Framework (RDF) and that the RDF’s conclusions are skewed toward utilities’ interests over consumers’ interests based on flawed data. The suit also names the University of California as a defendant, contending that UCSD concealed researcher David Victor’s financial ties to the utility industry when it won a no-bid contract from the County to prepare the report that Victor co-authored.  

In an exclusive interview with East County Magazine aired on KNSJ radio four days before the suit was filed in late February, Bill Powers, an engineer and board member on the Protect Our Communities Foundation, discussed why the organization is taking a stand against the RDF. He contends that if approved by Supervisors as written, it could result in fast-tracking industrial-scale wind and solar projects in our backcountry, even waiving environmental impact reviews, when it would be more economical to build rooftop and parking lot solar in urban areas – without harm to local communities and environmental habitats.

Audio: 


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LAWSUIT AGAINST SAN DIEGO SUPERVISORS OVER WIND ORDINANCE SET FOR COURT HEARING APRIL 25

 

By Miriam Raftery

April 23, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – A lawsuit filed against San Diego Supervisors asks the court to set aside the County’s new wind energy ordinance and an amendment to Boulevard’s community plan.  The case will be heard on Friday, April 25 at 1:30 p.m. in Superior Court, Department C-72, with Judge Timothy Taylor presiding. The courthouse is located at 220 West Broadway, San Diego.

The suit was filed by two community groups-- the Protect Our Communities Foundation, Backcountry Against Dumps-- and  by Donna Tisdale, chair of the Boulevard Planning Group. Plaintiffs seek to half industrial wind development in their backcountry community. They contend that such projects pose serious impacts to wildlife, water resources, human health and safety that the Board ignored.


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TWO LAWSUITS OVER LOCAL WIND ENERGY ISSUES HEAD TO COURT

 

 

By Miriam Raftery

February 28, 2014 (San Diego) – Opponents of  the Tule Wind project in McCain Valley will have their day in court on Monday, March 3 in San Diego’s U.S. District Court.  Then on April 25, a separate suit against the County over its wind energy ordinance and general plan amendment will also be heard.

The suits were filed by the Protect Our Communities Foundation and Donna Tisdale. Tisdale informed ECM that it's important to have many East County residents attend these trials.


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BATTLE LINES DRAWN IN BOULEVARD TO FIGHT MASSIVE ENERGY PROJECTS

"We're just surrounded by an enormous industrial attack." -- geologist Chris Noland

"The fire risk will increase...Our fire department is just going to have to watch it burn...The bigger the fire, the harder it is to put out." -- retired Cal-Fire Battalion Chief Mark Ostrander

"The utilities have big bucks. They hire the slickest lawyers and liars." -- Sam Milham, M.D., epdemiologist specializing in diseases caused by electricity

"Stand up for your lives and your children's lives." -- Occupy San Diego representative

By Miriam Raftery

January 27, 2013 (Boulevard ) – More than 100 people packed  into the fire station in Boulevard, voicing concerns, questions and outrage over plans to transform their rural community into an industrialized energy zone covering thousands of acres.  By meeting's end, it was clear that rural residents - buoyed by supporters from major activist and environmental groups in San Diego -- are gearing up for the fight of their lives.

“We need to change the standards in order to protect people,” said Donna Tisdale, who helped organize the meeting hosted by the Protect Our Communities Foundation and Backcountry Against Dumps.  “In my opinion, the wind industry actions meet the legal definition of deceit, constructive fraud and fraud.”


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COMMUNITY MEETING JAN. 24 ON INDUSTRIAL ENERGY PROJECTS PROPOSED IN EAST COUNTY

 

By Miriam Raftery

January 17, 2013 (Boulevard) – Two nonprofit groups, Protect Our Communities Foundation and Backcountry Against Dumps, will convene a community meeting Thursday, January 24, 2013 to inform residents about planned industrial conversation of Boulevard and surrounding areas.  A dozen or so big energy corporations—most from outside the region--seek to push through zoning changes to allow massive projects that would forever transform this now-rural area. 

“Learn about the many industrial scale wind, solar, and related transmission line projects planned in and around our residential neighborhoods (on public, private, and tribal lands), adversely impacting many homes,” a flyer for the event states, “and what you can do to help protect and defend your family, your property, your future.”

The meeting will be held at the Boulevard Fire Station Equipment Bay, 39923 Ribbonwood Road, Boulevard 91905 (northeast corner of Old Highway 80 and Ribbonwood Road) from 7 to 9 p.m. on January 24.


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TWO NEW LAWSUITS FILED OVER OCOTILLO WIND

By Miriam Raftery

September 13, 2012 (Ocotillo) – Two new lawsuits were filed September 11, 2012 against federal officials and the U.S. government seeking an injunction to halt construction at Pattern Energy’s Ocotillo Express industrial wind project. 

One suit targets U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials for allegedly violating the Endangered Species Act and failing to protect endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep.  Active signs of bighorn activity on the site have been spotted as recently as this week and photos clearly document recent sitings in the heart of the project.

The second suit takes aim at Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Department of Interior officials for ignoring  California Desert Conservation Area protections passed by Congress to conserve fragile desert areas for future generations. This suit alleges that officials also ignored many other laws intended to protect natural and cultural resources, views, archaeological sites, and the health of local residents.


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THIRD LAWSUIT FILED OVER OCOTILLO EXPRESS WIND

May 27, 2012 (Ocotillo) –The Protect Our Communities Foundation, Backcountry Against Dumps, and Donna Tisdale of Boulevard are suing the Imperial County Board of Supervisors and Pattern Energy.


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JUDGE RULES AGAINST POWERLINK OPPONENTS; PLAINTIFFS PLAN APPEAL

 

By Miriam Raftery
July 2, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez has denied a motion for summary judgment by three East County groups which sought to halt construction of Sunrise Powerlink transmission lines.  Plaintiffs had argued that environmental review by two federal agencies, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), was inadequate and violated federal law.

 

Among other things, the suit argued that the agencies violated federal law by approving the project before some surveys of endangered species were conducted and by failing to consider the scope of connected wind farm and other projects, opening tens of thousands of acres of public lands open to energy development projects without adequate review.


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COMMENTS DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR TULE WIND, ECO SUBSTATION & RELATED PROJECT IN EAST COUNTY


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GOVERNOR TO SPEAK AT SUNRISE POWERLINK GROUNDBREAKING TODAY; PROTEST PLANNED IN MCCAIN VALLEY

 

December 9. 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is confirmed to appear with other dignitaries at a groundbreaking hosted by San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) for Sunrise Powerlink slated for 11 a.m. today (originally set for 9 a.m.)

 

In response, the Protect Our Communiities Foundation is organizing a protest, calling the groundbreaking “premature” since three active lawsuits against Sunrise Powerlink are currently in the courts—any one of which could potentially halt the project.


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JACOB CONVENES POWERLINK TOWN HALL JUNE 23 AFTER FOREST SERVICE DENIES REQUEST FOR PUBLIC HEARING

 

CORRECTION:  Our newsletter contained an incorrect date for the Powerlink town hall meeting. The event will be held on Wednesday, June 23. 

 

June 18, 2010 (Alpine) – Supervisor Dianne Jacob and The Protect Our Communities Foundation will host a town hall meeting Wednesday, June 23 in Alpine to provide the public a forum for comments to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which is considering whether to allow the controversial Sunrise Powerlink high-voltage power lines to cross 19 miles of Cleveland National Forest in East County.


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FEDERAL LAWSUIT FILED TODAY CHALLENGES APPROVAL OF SUNRISE POWERLINK BY BLM


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POWERLINK MAY HINGE ON CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST SUPERVISOR: Attorney for 3 Community and Environmental Groups Sends Legal Notice to Metz; Metz Speaks With East County Magazine


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