By KATHERINE ROSENBERG, Editor

PIONEERTOWN - A handful of Lucerne Valley locals were among dozens who gathered at a California Desert Coalition fundraiser Saturday meant to bolster their opposition to Green Path North — a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power initiative that threatens to put a new corridor of transmission lines from the desert to the basin.

“We’re here to show our support — they’re doing the work for us,” said LVEDA board member Chuck Bell.

April Sall, CDC Chairperson said that LADWP will soon release their Notice of Intent which will further outline the focus of the project, which currently represents seven possible routes, one of which begins near Desert Hot Springs and goes on into Lucerne Valley and eventually meets with an existing corridor in Apple Valley and Hesperia.

“The NOI will start the environmental clock and that should happen in the next couple of months. They did move some dates back from 2010 to 2014 which is good news — it means what we’re doing is working and we’re slowing them down,” Sall said.

She added that funds raised at the event were going towards the tab of an engineer the group hopes to hire, to the tune of $30,000 to $60,000.

The CDC is a grassroots non-profit organization promotes the preservation of the desert communities and wildlife along the proposed path. The group advocates the use of an existing Southern California Edison corridor along Interstate 10.

Once the NOI is issued the environmental reviews will likely begin with public
scoping meetings coming at that time.

“The scoping meetings are really our chance to show the opposition,” Bell said.

Katherine Rosenberg can be reached at 964-9057 or by e-mail at krosenberg@vvdailypress.com.