Anza-Borrego in jeopardy

Since we're all in California I thought I'd relay this to those on this forum....

This went completely under the radar as of late. Federal pressure has the California State Parks and Recreation Commission re-evaluating the wilderness status give to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. To virtually quote Diana Lindsay, the President of the Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute, this would be the first time in American history that either state or federal wilderness has been de-designated in order to allow development. As you might predict the industry pushing for this change is the energy industry specifically San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) who wants to erect 150 miles of transmission line straight through this protected area. If the government is successful in repealing protected status of lands deisgnated as wilderness a dangerous precedent will be set putting all protected land in jeopardy.

See here for more info and what action can be taken to fight this

I read about this on another forum and looked into the situation but couldn't find any concrete information beyond what the person posted and two rather vague news articles. The North County Times article though is better than what I've read. I'll post a link to the article onto my blog which has thousands of readers. Thanks.

Thanks Richard... I have a link to the utility company site stating the process or next steps that are being taken. I haven't had a chance to add it to my blog yet.

I pushed the information to a couple of climbing forums.

Hopefully there'll be people from the protection organizations more in tune with legislation that will come across the info and act on the info.

This is a great site for keeping up to date: http://www.kdfuller.blogspot.com/

A reply summing up the situation on this:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=304676
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060129-9999-1b29sempra.html#sdge

Thanks for the link with the map. I'd been looking for something concrete after getting wind of this in the past. Unlike some, such a proposal doesn't necessarily elicit a knee jerk reaction from me. The park is gigantic, and there are some utility towers already in places, maybe predating the park. The route 1 shown on the map ought to be condemned while the two closer to the Salton Sea may be outside the park's eastern borders. Personally I really hate all the otherwise fine landscapes that are from my perspective useless for my work due to power transmission towers or telecom poles. During February of 2005 when the bloom of the century occurred, that whole route #1 on the map had great wide landscapes of wildflowers and desert peaks I'd hate to see any towers marring. In fact there are some just north in Joshua Tree I hope they move elsewhere some day. ...David

If that wildflower view from 05 gets obstructed by power lines then I will blow my fuse. Real estate developers are satan as far as I'm concerned.