The Sacramento Municipal Utility District's withdrawal this week from a major Northern California power-transmission project complicates its transition to renewable energy. SMUD planners foresaw using the new high-voltage lines to carry power to Sacramento from new wind, solar and geothermal energy projects envisioned for Lassen County and northwestern Nevada. SMUD cited financial uncertainties for the pullout.

North state opposition to a proposed high-voltage power line stretching from Lassen County to the San Francisco Bay area is still fully charged. The day after the biggest municipal utility among those planning the 600-mile Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC) line pulled out of the project, those opposing it said their fight is long from over. ..."We deserve our meeting," Caldwell said. "TANC should not cancel our meeting because one entity pulled out."

One of the largest public works projects in the West - 600 miles of high-voltage power lines through Northern California - is on life support after its biggest player abruptly pulled the plug. A magnet for opposition from both owners of properties the transmission lines would cross and environmental activists, the project was promoted as vital to the region's clean-energy future.

Prompted by outcry over a proposal to place a power transmission project through Solano and neighboring counties, Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Solano, has introduced legislation to close a loophole exempting local, publicly owned utilities from state oversight. ...Existing law requires that any person proposing to construct an electric transmission line must first obtain a certification from the Commission. However, local publicly owned electric utilities do not currently fall under this law, and thus lack oversight.

California officials are beginning to worry that the state's focus on transitioning to renewable-energy sources could lead to power shortages in the near term. The state has been so keen to develop renewables that relatively few conventional power generators, such as gas-fired plants, have been built lately. That risks a possible energy shortfall in certain places if the economy rebounds any time soon.

A controversial power transmission line project faces a major setback. ...Thursday night, Action News learned that a major participant in the project has pulled out. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has withdrawn from the $1.5 billion dollar project. SMUD was expected to fund a large share of the project.

Six hundred miles of high-voltage power lines would mar farms and country homes simply because that's cheaper than a less disruptive option, a Stanislaus County leader charged Tuesday. A claim of pursuing renewable energy options "is just a front to sell power up and down California," Supervisor Bill O'Brien told energy officials, prompting vigorous applause from landowners upset at the proposal at a county Board of Supervisors meeting.

The Transmission Agency of Northern California's proposal to build more than 600 miles of high-voltage transmission lines has residents fearing the worst: reduced property values, high power rates, interference with agriculture operations and negative impacts to the environment and public safety. "These are all things that cannot be mitigated away," Shasta County resident Steve Kerns said at a community meeting in Maxwell on Wednesday.

The Temecula City Council wants to take a closer look at a wind energy ordinance and another proposed ordinance that would offer protection for the city's heritage trees. During Tuesday's meeting, the council postponed a hearing on the heritage tree ordinance until its next meeting in mid-July and voted 3-0 to create a subcommittee to look more closely at the proposed regulations on the harnessing of wind energy.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to streamline the process for meteorological equipment testing for wind energy turbines while directing county staff to return to the board with an analysis on developing a two-tiered ordinance, which separated domestic and commercial systems. On May 12 the supervisors established $350,000 of funding to prepare an Environmental Impact Report.

California's push for renewable power could prove costly to consumers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to get one-third of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could cost $115 billion in new infrastructure, according to a report released Friday by the California Public Utilities Commission. Last year, a similar report from the commission estimated the cost at $60 billion.

Residents who hoped that the Baylands would be suited for generating electricity from wind power received bad news this week. An energy consultant found the 600-acre site not windy enough to install a turbine, an energy generator that converts wind energy into electrical energy. The city's Open Space and Ecology Committee received a preliminary report this week after a year of collecting data from a temporary 197-foot-tall metal tower.

In the midst of a push for "green" wind power, wind speeds are slowing in the East and Midwest - ironically due to global warming - according to a new study. But the study also shows a slight increase in wind speeds in the Coachella Valley and other parts of California. That could mean more demand from our sea of windmills, a scientist and an industry official said.

A rush to stake claims for renewable energy projects in the California desert has triggered a federal investigation and prompted calls for reforms to prevent public lands from being exposed to private profiteering and environmental degradation. Officials said last week that the inspector general's office of the Department of the Interior was investigating Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar Inc.'s recent acquisition of Hayward, Calif.-based OptiSolar, and its unfinished renewable energy projects, for $400 million.

Soledad wants to build a seven-turbine wind farm to power its wastewater treatment plant. Sounds simple enough only the few remaining California condors frequently fly over the city and the Department of Fish and Game doesn't want to take the chance for one endangered bird to be pureed. "Even though it's a relatively low risk," says David Hacker, staff environmental scientist for DFG, "it's still a risk and any risk can be significant for this species."

The city's press release stated: "AB1318 is essential to the future development of clean and alternative energy generation in the Coachella Valley because it will provide the ability to increase harnessing of renewable energy at the proposed peaker plant while maintaining the highest emission standards." Nichols took issue with that, saying, "I would like to know how."

Financial turbulence has delayed construction of a massive wind-power project in eastern Shasta County. Work on the 103-megawatt Hatchet Ridge Wind Project will begin this summer, George Hardie, senior developer for Babcock and Brown International, said Tuesday. Hardie had said the plan was to start building this spring on the ridge overlooking Burney after the Shasta County Board of Supervisors denied appeals to the controversial turbines last fall.

Tonight the council will listen to a presentation about the Transmission Agency of Northern California - also known as TANC - and their current examination into constructing a set of arterial transmission lines that will essentially run from Santa Clara over the heart of the South County before heading all the way up to the rim of the Sacramento Valley and over to Lassen County.

A California utility said Friday that it is dropping plans to build a high-voltage transmission line across the Southwestern Arizona desert and is scaling back the project to only its California portion, at least for now. Southern California Edison said it's halting separate efforts to win approvals from Arizona and federal regulators. The project had been approved by California regulators but rejected initially by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Nearly 350 people attended a meeting Thursday in Cottonwood regarding the Transmission Agency of Northern California's proposal to build 600 miles of power lines across the state. Steve Kerns, a biologist who helps develop environmental impact reports for wildland resource managers, spoke to a gymnasium so full that some were forced to stand or sit on the floor.