The San Pedro River is in danger

Native American tribes want US appeals court to weigh in on $10B SunZia energy transmission project
Associate Press
by Susan Montoya Bryan
April 25, 2024

Native American tribes and environmentalists want a U.S. appeals court to weigh in on their request to halt construction along part of a $10 billion transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California.

The tribes and others argue that the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management failed to recognize the cultural significance of the area before approving the route of the massive project in 2015.

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Federal judge denies a request by two Arizona tribes to block work on SunZia power line
Arizona Republic
by Hayleigh Evans
April 17, 2024

A federal judge has denied two Arizona tribes’ request for an injunction to halt construction on the SunZia power transmission line through the San Pedro River Valley.

The Tohono O’odham Nation and San Carlos Apache Tribe, with Archaeology Southwest and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management over the agency’s approval of Pattern Energy’s route through the valley.

The court in Tucson ruled that the tribes waited too long to file an injunction and concluded that the BLM had complied with the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires identification of historic properties and efforts to mitigate impacts to those sites.

“Our goal is not only to protect our ancestral cultural history and the San Pedro River Valley’s pristine environment, but to also ensure the federal government is held accountable for its actions in violation of laws designed specifically to protect sacred lands,” Jose said in a written statement. “This is far too important of an issue to be deterred by this ruling,” he added. “The United States’ renewable energy policy that includes destroying sacred and undeveloped landscapes is fundamentally wrong and must stop.”

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US court rejects a request by tribes to block $10B SunZia energy transmission project in Arizona

Associated Press
by Susan Montoya Bryan
April 16, 2024

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by Native American tribes and environmentalists to stop work on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote southeastern Arizona valley that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California.

The project — approved in 2015 following a lengthy review — has been touted as the biggest U.S. electricity infrastructure undertaking since the Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s.

Two tribes joined with archaeologists and environmentalists in filing a lawsuit in January, accusing the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management of refusing for nearly 15 years to recognize “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the remote San Pedro Valley to Native American tribes including the Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni, and San Carlos Apache Tribe.

The suit was filed after Pattern Energy received approval to transmit electricity generated by its SunZia wind farm in central New Mexico through the San Pedro Valley, east of Tucson. The lawsuit called the valley “one of the most intact, prehistoric and historical … landscapes in southern Arizona,” and asked the court to issue restraining orders or permanent injunctions to halt construction.

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The largest clean-energy project in US history cuts through the pristine San Pedro Valley. Tribes and residents are trying to reroute it.
Inside Climate News
by Wyatt Myskow
April 10, 2024

The SunZia transmission line is planned to stretch across more than 500 miles, connecting 3,000 megawatts of clean energy generated from wind farms in New Mexico to the power grid, which will carry most of it to utilities in California. As the U.S. looks to pivot away from generating electricity with fossil fuels, the nearly 50 miles of SunZia lines that would cut through the middle of the San Pedro Valley have sparked one of the nation’s most consequential fights over developing green spaces for green energy.

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The U.S. Urgently Needs a Bigger Grid. Here’s a Fast Solution.
By Brad Plumer
April 9, 2024

One of the biggest obstacles to expanding clean energy in the United States is a lack of power lines. Building new transmission lines can take a decade or more because of permitting delays and local opposition. But there may be a faster, cheaper solution, according to two reports released Tuesday.

Replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could roughly double the capacity of the electric grid in many parts of the country, making room for much more wind and solar power.

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After hearing from Arizona residents, we are deeply concerned concerned about the negative implications of this project on Arizona … In November of 2022, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) approved amendments to Pattern Energy’s Arizona permit. In doing so, they acquiesced to Pattern’s plan to make Arizona a Pass-through state.”

Twelve Arizona State Congressmen and Representatives have sent a powerful letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) ask they “review the previous actions granted to SunZia and ensure the concerns of Arizona ratepayers are adequately addressed.”

Read the full letter, as delivered and registered …

Archaeology Southwest joined this lawsuit because of USBLM’s many failures to use its discretion to spare the San Pedro Valley—a place of exceptional beauty and historical, cultural, spiritual, and ecological importance—from industrial fragmentation. As a Tucson-based nonprofit with deep ties to the valley community, Archaeology Southwest has long urged USBLM to route the transmission line alongside existing infrastructure.

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From power lines to copper mines, tribal leaders are raising concerns about projects essential to President Biden’s climate goals
By Maxine Joselow
March 4, 2024

TUCSON, Ariz. — Verlon Jose recalls climbing a hill here to see the majestic peaks of the Santa Rita Mountains in one direction and the cactus-studded San Pedro Valley, where his ancestors lived hundreds of years ago, in the other.

But looking out from that same vista in February, Jose saw only unwelcome development. To the south, bulldozers were carving roads and clearing land for a massive copper mine on the western slope of the Santa Ritas. To the east, construction was underway on a 550-mile power line that would cut through a 50-mile portion of the valley.

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