Tribes, environmental groups ask US court to block $10B energy transmission project in Arizona
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal judge is being asked to issue a work ban on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote valley in southeastern Arizona to carry wind-powered electricity to customers as far away as California.
A 32-page lawsuit filed Jan. 17 in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Arizona, accuses the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management of refusing to provide “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the remote San Pedro. Valley to Native American tribes, including the Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni and Western Apache.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after Pattern Energy received approval to transmit electricity generated by the SunZia Transmission wind farm in central New Mexico through the San Pedro Valley east of Tucson and north of Interstate 10.
The lawsuit calls the valley “one of the most intact, prehistoric and historic landscapes in southern Arizona” and asks the court to issue restraining orders or permanent injunctions to halt construction.
“The San Pedro Valley will suffer irreparable damage if construction continues,” it says.
SunZia Wind and Transmission and government representatives did not respond to email messages Monday. They are expected to respond in court. The project is touted as the largest U.S. electricity infrastructure undertaking since the Hoover Dam.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Tohono O’odham Nation, the San Carlos Apache Reservation and the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity and Archeology Southwest.
“The case for protecting this landscape is clear,” Archeology Southwest said in a statement calling the San Pedro “Arizona’s last free-flowing river” and the valley the embodiment of a “unique and timely story of social and environmental sustainability in more than one country.” than 12,000 years of cultural and ecological changes.”
The valley represents a 50-mile stretch of the planned 550-mile pipeline that is expected to carry electricity and connect massive new wind farms in central New Mexico to existing transmission lines in Arizona to serve populated areas far beyond. away like California. The project is called a key part of President Joe Biden’s goal for a carbon-pollution-free energy sector by 2035.
Work began in New Mexico in September after years of negotiations and resulted in approval from the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency with authority over large parts of the US West.
The New Mexico route was adjusted after the U.S. Department of Defense raised concerns about the effects of power lines on radar systems and military training operations.
Work was briefly halted in November amid pleas from tribes to review environmental approvals for the San Pedro Valley, and resumed weeks later in what Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon M. Jose characterized as “a punch in the heart.” .
SunZia expects the transmission line to enter commercial service in 2026 and transport more than 3,500 megawatts of wind energy to 3 million people. Project officials say they have conducted surveys and worked with tribes over the years to identify cultural resources in the area.
A photo included in the court filing shows an aerial view in November of ridge access roads and tower sites being built west of the San Pedro River near Redrock Canyon. Tribal officials and environmentalists say the region is otherwise relatively untouched.
The transmission line is also being challenged in the Arizona Court of Appeals. The court is asked to consider whether government officials there properly considered the benefits and consequences of the project.
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Ritter reported from Las Vegas, Nevada.