By KATHERINE ROSENBERG, Editor

YUCCA VALLEY — Roughly 500 people turned out for a meeting to protest the proposed Green Path North project — a plan from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that create a new corridor of power lines running through numerous communities including Lucerne Valley, Apple Valley and Hesperia.

Green Path North is a proposed transmission line connecting geothermal and other renewable resources in the Imperial Valley to existing electric facilities in the Victor Valley, according to the LADWP. But opponents of the proposal say that creating a new corridor — when one exists along much of Interstate 10 — is needless and will destroy hundreds of miles of pristine desert, as well as impact home values and have devastating ecological effects.

At the Saturday morning meeting, the LADWP first gave a presentation on their plans, including a number of proposed paths, none of which the crowd applauded, except for using the existing corridor along Interstate 10. Also discussed were the ideas of creating an underground corridor to alleviate concerns over the “eyesore” factor, and the fact that the utility put survey markers on private land last year, all of which have now been removed.

Because the process is in its earliest phase, it was not a formal scoping meeting, nor were any decisions made. It was simply an opportunity for the LADWP to introduce their ideas and clear up rumors, and for residents to state their opinion to the decision-makers.

The next step in the process of approval will be for the LADWP to present a Notice of Intent, which would be followed by scoping meetings.

“Let me finish my comments with first, an apology, second a pledge and third a plea,” said LADWP General Manager and CEO David Nahai. “To all of you who felt violated by the markers, I apologize. This is the beginning of the process — I pledge to you that we will listen to your concerns and your suggestions. Now, I ask you to recognize that our cause is just, our goals are noble.”

The meeting was called by the California Desert Coalition, a nonpartisan grassroots organization formed after initial plans submitted to the Bureau of Land Management from LADWP were uncovered more than a year ago.

While the group’s mission is a nationwide effort to utilize the most advanced energy solutions, specifically they believe that “the LADWP proposal for an entirely new transmission corridor is self-serving, short-sighted and would devastate a unique and irreplaceable desert ecosystem,” said Ruth Reiman, spokeswoman for the group.

It seemed everyone in attendance agreed.

Boos, jeers, and standing ovations were all par for the course during the heated two-hour meeting in which Nahai tried to assure concerned citizens that they want to be “good neighbors,” and are searching to come up with a proposal amenable to desert residents.

As the crowd was comprised of those already in opposition, he did little to reassure anyone when he became unglued by dozens of comments during the one-hour public reaction session.

“I didn’t have to come here today,” Nahai said after a representative from the Alliance for Responsible Energy Policy read a letter of protest, suggesting the department knows that local energy production is the most effective.

“I don’t think it’s right, you don’t even know me. To call someone disingenuous ... He claims that I know this is not the better way, if that’s true, then what am I doing here?” Nahai said.

One woman from Flamingo Heights couldn’t hold back tears as she told Nahai, “we’re not against it, we just want you to think about what desert treasures we’ll be losing.”

She presented him with a posterboard covered in photographs of desert landscapes, saying, “look at these when you’re making your decision.”

As she broke into tears, Nahai hugged her, again changing the atmosphere of the room back to the stakes at hand.

But after a handful of other more pointed comments, the tension again rose as Nahai seemed to be taking the attacks personally.

“With a little bit of sense, you’ll come to see that there are no ulterior motives here,” he pled.

When someone asked what the local benefit would be, Nahai came straight to the point, saying, “I don’t know what local benefits we can offer.”

Roaring laughter broke out when someone accused the department of using all of the energy in Los Angeles and Nahai responded, “It is not intended to go just to Los Angeles, we have the city of Riverside and the city of Banning here in support of this.”

He added, “the idea that we’re going to demonize L.A. here today is the wrong way to be thinking.”

But despite that hope, or perhaps because of it, the crowd was no more reassured about the plans of the utility or their intentions.

In her initial comments, April Sall, Chairperson for the CDC who mediated the discussion, said that the idea is not to attack the utility or its goals, but to advocate for more innovative planning.

“The situation we are facing with respect to the Green Path North project can be described as using 19th century politics, with 20th century technology applied to 21st century energy needs,” Sall said.

In her final comment to the utility before the open session began she said, “David, yourself and the department need to recognize you’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past. We have a lot to protect here. We have a lot to fight for.”

Katherine Rosenberg can be reached at 248-7878 or by e-mail at krosenberg@vvdailypress.com.