Gila River officials reject SRP plan for power line route
Salt River Project’s plan to build a 230kilovolt power line in the Southeast Valley was dealt a major setback this week, after the Gila River Indian Community Council rejected a preferred route that would bring most of the new line across tribal land, avoiding residential areas in Chandler and Sun Lakes.
The May 6 vote came despite approval from about 4,000 allottees who hold tribal land and gave consent to SRP for the above-ground line. SRP says the line is needed to meet future power demand along Chandler’s Price Road Corridor, home to numerous major companies that employ thousands of workers, among them Intel.
The Arizona Corporation Commission was expected to consider a recommendation for the route at its May 12 meeting, but company officials have requested the hearing be delayed.
“SRP is disappointed with this unexpected decision,” said John Coggins, SRP’s senior director of System Operations, in a prepared statement. “At this time, we are unsure as to exactly why the measure was defeated, but we strongly believe that the private land route alternatives approved last month by the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee in combination with the (Gila River Indian Community) alternative are the best options for this important transmission project. With this in mind, SRP will take reasonable steps to work with the Community to discuss whether there is a potential resolution to their issues.”
Gila River tribal officials contacted by the Arizona Republic late Friday did not have an immediate comment on the vote.
The recommended route already had proven controversial because a nearly 3mile portion would run through Chandler to connect with an existing SRP substation near Ocotillo Road and Arizona Avenue. Residents in that area have formed a group called Arizona Communities United, demanding SRP bear the cost of burying the line. Company officials have said no 230-kilovolt lines are buried in its territory because doing so is cost-prohibitive, about $10 million per mile compared to $900,000 per mile above ground.
The group, which has been promoting an online petition that as of Friday had garnered more than1,400 signatures, has filed documents with the Corporation Commission asking that the recommended route be reconsidered. The group has suggested SRP has not been open with residents during the two-year planning process. Another group of residents is promoting another petition, with more than 400 signees, asking that any routes already eliminated not be reconsidered.
Chandler resident Laine Schoneberger, an organizer of Arizona Communities United, welcomed news of the Gila River vote, but said long-term implications remain unclear.
"SRP will take reasonable steps to work with the Community to discuss whether there is a potential resolution to their issues."
“Regardless of how it came about, I’m thrilled because it gives us an opportunity, from the standpoint of Arizona Communities United, to gain more steam, to get more people on board.’’ he said.
The Gila River Tribal Council and U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs have jurisdiction over the portion of the power line that would be built on tribal land. The Corporation Commission has jurisdiction over the Chandler portions.
The longest stretch of the recommended route in Chandler, just under 3 miles, would be built on the west side of railroad tracks east of Arizona Avenue that run in a north-south direction. It would continue onto tribal land and across the reservation in an east-west direction, bypassing Sun Lakes and cutting up into a quarter-mile portion of Chandler near the Intel property to the west, connecting with a new substation.
The route was chosen over several alternatives, including one that would have brought the line along a stretch of Germann Road in Chandler and another that would have brought it along Hunt Highway. Each of those alternatives would have potentially impacted more residences, SRP has said.