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Locations of power lines to Rosemont debated

By Philip Franchine, Green Valley News
Published: Friday, August 28, 2009 8:41 PM MST


Tucson Electric Power has asked the public where it should locate power lines serving the proposed Rosemont Copper mine, but it didn’t get much help at Thursday’s open house in Rancho Resort.

Many of the 60 or so people didn’t support any of the proposed routes because they feel the mine and the power lines would ruin the scenic views.

Cecelia Axton and two of her Quail Creek neighbors pored over a large map of the area showing three potential corridors for power lines, but agreed they didn’t like any of the routes, saying they fear the impacts of tall power lines on their quality of life.

Axton said she opposed the closest corridor to Quail Creek, but said she didn’t want to support the other two corridors because those routes would put other communities at risk. She also asked why valuable public land would be given over to a foreign-owned mining company. Augusta Resource, which owns Rosemont Copper, is based in Canada, but has offices in the United States.

Many voiced concerns that it would bring a line of 100-foot tall towers from a proposed electric substation about a mile northeast of Quail Creek to the northern Santa Rita Mountains, where the mine would be located. The substation would be on the eastern border of Sahuarita, about one mile north of Duval Road.

TEP displayed maps showing numerous links from the proposed substation to the mine along three pathways:


  • Santa Rita Road, which goes southeast from the proposed substation.

  • An existing 46-kilowatt power line that also runs southeast and is south of Santa Rita Road by about a mile and a half

  • A path that would go due east several miles from the proposed substation, then due south near Helvetia and southeast into the mine.

    Barbara Blanchard of Corona de Tucson told TEP spokesman Larry Lucero she wished the three routes and the copper mine would “all go away.” Lucero told her that Rosemont would pay for the power lines and a TEP newsletter also pointed out that Rosemont is paying for the siting study, including the cost of hiring consultants. Other officials noted that TEP is required to respond to a request for service and that the eventual route must be approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

    Others from Blanchard’s Corona de Tucson community association said they opposed the entire mine project for environmental reasons and opposed the third option, saying that would bring power poles closest to their communities.

    Larry Hawkins of the tiny community of Helvetia in the Santa Rita foothills was one of the few visitors to indicate a route preference, saying he would like to see the third option, which starts out going due east from the proposed substation, because that route would be the farthest from heavily populated areas.

    An official overseeing the range, Steve Husman, director of the University of Arizona Tucson area agricultural centers and a member of the TEP power line siting stakeholder group, said he has told TEP the Experimental Range would prefer the power lines go along Santa Rita Road, because that area is already the most disturbed by human activity of the three options.

    Some visitors just skipped the issue of which route was best and said they felt the open house was a poor example of public outreach by TEP for such a controversial project.

    Elizabeth Webb of Vail, a member of the TEP power line stakeholders committee, said “I’m disappointed by the public outreach process. There has not been one open house in Vail, Corona de Tucson or Sonoita, the communities most affected by this.”

    TEP director of corporate communications Joe Salkowski, who also was present, said the company had held two open houses, in Vail and Green Valley, but acknowledged the company did not show potential routes for the power lines.

    pfranchine@gvnews.com | 547-9738



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    Reader Comments

    The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of gvnews.com.

    D.H.Langenfeld wrote on Aug 29, 2009 5:07 AM:

    " Greetings.
    Yes power lines must be underground and tripple shielded period. As power is a proven endocrine disruptor and stressor leading to cancer and on and on. The Soviet power transmission line standards are best at lower numbers all around, but our govt. in its wisdom has failed to see the writing on the walls of proper, healthy regulation; to protect the we in "We The People" yet again. Pitty for the living that bit of smug belief in our safe power levels, setbacks, and construction; but then again perhaps the health care system need new customers, I do not know. "

    D.H.Langenfeld wrote on Aug 29, 2009 5:11 AM:

    " Quite right; people's health is extremily "case sensitive" on an individual basis; its why they go to doctors and request privacy in everything. Only they are alowed to talk about their own case of endocrine disruption; if they choose to do so. The doctors must remain mum what.
    Thank you for this kind opportunity to respond to the power line location problems for the extraction of copper in the tucson region of arizona.
    Yours in tolerance,
    D. H. Langenfeld KCCM "

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