An Ignoble Experiment

2. More energy developments getting health checkups

San Diego Gas & Electric's (SDG&E) Sunrise Powerlink project has been the recipient of much praise and recognition recently, and has just gotten more.

Credit: SDG&E

The utility has received a National Environmental Excellence Award for Best Available Technology from the National Association of Environmental Professionals for the electronic environmental monitoring and compliance tools it used during the construction of the Sunrise Powerlink. The ambitious and challenging project for SDG&E connects renewable energy resources in the Imperial Valley region through rough terrain and sensitive environments to serve its customers in San Diego and southern Orange counties.

During construction, approximately 160 environmental and cultural monitors from a variety of disciplines, such as biological, avian, cultural, stormwater and hazardous materials, were deployed to safeguard the resources where the 117-mile transmission line was built. To facilitate communication and information sharing, monitors were transformed to mobile PCs with a handheld tablet computer that communicated through web-based technologies to the entire team enabling immediate remote access and response from anywhere.

"SDG&E placed safety and environmental compliance at the forefront of this project," said Pam Fair, SDG&E chief environmental officer and vice president of environmental and operations support. "The technology, tools and processes we put in place helped to manage the extensive restrictions in the area resulting in very few non-compliance incidents during the two-year project."

The monitoring tools used a Google Earth-based system that leveraged GIS technologies, GPS and mobile computing. Avian monitors noted bird nesting areas, biological monitors noted sightings of sensitive vegetation, and wildlife and cultural monitors outlined areas of cultural or archaeological significance to be avoided.

"Without the use of the technology tools…we wouldn't have been able to keep up with the construction schedule and monitor compliance as effectively," said Alan Colton, environmental manager for the Sunrise Powerlink project. "For example, we had approximately 33 helicopters working during peak construction and nest buffers that needed to be avoided. Those pilots, along with all the other members of our project team, relied on up to date information about work restrictions associated with sensitive resources to maintain compliance, protect resources, and keep the project moving forward and on budget."

Sunrise Powerlink has also been recognized as Engineering News Record California's Project of the Year and has received the American Council of Engineering Companies of California's Golden State Award.

For more:
- see this release

Read more about: SDG&E, Sunrise Powerlink
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. Judges: Utility poles don't threaten clean water

The Health Impact Project has announced new grant recipients of funding to conduct health impact assessments (HIA) on energy projects.

Caption: More and more projects, including those in the energy industry, are undergoing health impact assessments. View the full-size image. (PRNewsFoto/Pew Charitable Trusts)

"Our new grantees will use health impact assessments to uncover opportunities to improve health in a wide range of policy decisions, as well as to identify and avoid potential unintended consequences," said Aaron Wernham, director of the Health Impact Project.

For example, one grant recipient, the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, in collaboration with the Purchase District Health Department, will have an HIA to examine the potential health benefits and risks of the retrofit or retirement of the Tennessee Valley Authority's Shawnee coal plant in Paducah, Kentucky. The HIA will analyze environmental health concerns associated with air and water pollution from the plant and the effects of its closure on community employment, individual income, and revenue for local health services. The HIA will also consider whether the U.S. Department of Energy will renew a contract with a nearby uranium enrichment plant that depends on power from the coal plant.

Another grant recipient, the National Indian Justice Center will undertake an HIA on a proposed solar project. Conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the California Energy Commission, and affected tribes, tribal leaders, and tribal health advocates, the HIA will examine the health risks and benefits for Native American communities in the Mojave Desert. It will also analyze potential health impacts associated with changes in access to resources that are part of tribal cultural practices, including traditional foods, as well as changes in substance abuse and mental health. Benefits tied to the renewable energy project such as improved air quality from reduced emissions and opportunities for employment with health insurance will also be considered.

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers conducted and released the findings of the first HIA in Virginia -- that a proposed renewable energy facility in the Shenandoah Valley might improve health risks related to water quality but contribute to air pollution. The 15-month HIA uncovered an unintended risk of the proposed biomass facility (air pollution) for which a practical solution can now be developed.

The Health Impact Project -- a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts -- has 225 HIAs either completed or currently underway.

For more:
- see this HIA

Read more about: HIA, Health Impact Assessments
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By Travis Mitchell

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4. Georgia maturing as a solar market

Federal judges yesterday upheld an earlier court ruling protecting utility poles from potential environmental regulation.

The ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit filed by the Ecological Rights Foundation (ERF) arguing that utility poles discharge wood preservatives and are in violation of the EPA Clean Water Act. The complaints date back to 2009, but the case was dismissed previously due to what judges viewed as a lack of proof by ERF about the harmful effects of the utility poles.

The lawsuit focused on Pacific Gas & Electric and Pacific Bell Telephone Company, which treat their poles with wood preservatives.

The 2011 ERF complaint alleged that, "Over time, this oil-wood treatment mixture leaks out of each pole into or onto whatever surface the pole contacts. This oil-wood treatment mixture also oozes to the surface of that part of the pole that is above ground, and then itself drips, or is washed off the pole by rainwater."

But the ruling judges wrote that ERF did not have a solid claim under the Clean Water Act, since utility poles are neither a "point source discharge" nor "associated with industrial activity."

Regulating utility poles would likely be a cumbersome, time-consuming task. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association estimates there are about 37 million utility poles across the United States.

For more:
-see the ruling
-see the complaint
-see this article

By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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5. Utilities competing with microgrids

Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power is celebrating the success of the first phase of its Advanced Solar Initiative (ASI), which will significantly increase Georgia's solar investment over the next three years.

Georgia Power's ASI seeks to add 210 MW to the state's solar infrastructure by the end of 2015. In an overwhelming response to the overall program, the small and medium-scale program has drawn more than 1,000 applications for the first 45 MW available in 2013; another 45 MW will be available in 2014. The utility began accepting applications on March 1^st of this year.

In its 2012 nationwide survey of solar development, the Solar Energy Industries Association reported that the U.S. solar market accounted for more than 10 percent of the global solar market for the first time in recent history. However, Georgia did not feature prominently into those figures.

The level of participation in the ASI program marks an increasing level of maturity in Georgia as a solar market.

"Our solar industry is providing local jobs, investment and economic activity throughout the state," said Mark Bell, president of Empower Energy Technology and Georgia Solar Energy Association chairman. "We are continuing to work toward Georgia's full solar market potential."

For more:
- see this article
- request the SEIA report

By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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