The Sierra Club has been one of TEP's biggest critics in recent years, particularly around the ongoing rate case and TEP's continued reliance on natural gas. Catalina Ross is the southern Arizona energy program coordinator with the group's local chapter.
“We feel that rate payers should not have to pay for fossil fuel infrastructure that we know is going to become even more uneconomical,” Ross said. “As we begin to move more towards renewables, we’re phasing out these investments and we shouldn’t be building more of them.”
The Sierra Club objects to TEP’s use of natural gas because the fuel source has negative economic, environmental and public health effects, Ross said. She said her group does applaud TEP for their increased transparency and community involvement with the 2035 Integrated Resource Plan, but wants them to move away from coal sooner and plan "just and equitable transitions" for coal-impacted communities.
TEP is planning to build a transmission line that will connect substations at South Kino Parkway and East 36th Street and Grant Road and I-10. The route for that Kino to DeMoss-Petrie transmission line—which is still being decided—will run through central Tucson. The large steel poles will be between 75 and 110 feet tall, possibly taller at major roads. TEP has said the line is necessary to improve reliability, add capacity for increased demand and support the needs of the University of Arizona and Banner - University Medical Center Tucson.
VIEW LARGER A map of one possible route for the Kino to DeMoss-Petrie transmission line TEP is planning to build. The final route is still being decided.
Courtesy TEP
TEP has been gathering customer input on the project for months. Many area residents object to aspects of the plan, especially the route, which could be through or near many historic neighborhoods.
John Schwarz is a longtime Tucsonan, retired professor and previously served on the city's citizens advisory planning committee when the Kino Parkway was being designed and built. He says that experience influenced his view of the transmission line project, particularly its visual impacts.
“As a citizen of Tucson I'm really appalled at what they're planning to do here and the kind of impact it's going to have both on the entryway [to Tucson] and Campbell Avenue, if that's the route chosen, as well as my feeling for people who own property nearby who are going to suffer quite substantial losses,” Schwarz said. “The entire character of some neighborhoods are going to be changed by this when it could so easily be done differently.”
Dan Dempsey lives in the Iron Horse neighborhood, near Euclid Avenue and Broadway Boulevard. Euclid was one of the earlier routes. Schwarz and Dempsey wrote a paper detailing their objection to TEP's plans and a recommendation for putting part of the transmission line underground.
Dempsey, who has a background in energy company analytics, said that according to calculations based on TEP’s own studies, the cost of putting this transmission line underground would be insignificant compared to TEP’s yearly revenue.
Schwarz and Dempsey said they are not opposed to the transmission line, they just want it to be built underground. Dempsey also said that TEP has ample time to consider the decision.
“There’s no reason to rush, there’s no reason to hurry,” Dempsey said. “We can explore undergrounding. We can talk to the city, the state, the feds. We can see what happens if there’s a big infrastructure plan. There’s time to wait.”
So far, Schwarz and Dempsey have been working locally to try to change TEP’s plans but have not directly heard back from the company.
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