(summer 2010)
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| San Pedro River Valley DEIS contribution | Aravaipa Region DEIS contribution |
As part of the NEPA process, SunZia is required to submit an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) which will be evaluated before their proposed transmission project can be approved. The 2 Megabyte, 152 page report below, which Daniel Baker and others have produced, has been officially submitted to EPG as CWG's input and contribution to the draft EIS.
THE AUTHORS:
San Pedro River Valley Environmental Impact Research
*Principal Author--Daniel Baker. Since the January 13th meeting with SunZia hosted by CWG here in Cascabel, Daniel has rededicated the bulk of his time to preparing this heavily researched, thoroughly documented report on the potential environmental impact of the proposed SunZia line on the San Pedro River Valley. He is owed a great debt of gratitude from all of us.
*Robert (Bob) Evans, a retired electrical engineer, Cascabel resident and active bird enthusiast, contributed a 15-page description of the birds of the Lower San Pedro region.
*Monica Stephens is an expert in Geographic Information Science. She and her intern, Dietrich Walker, are responsible for many of the colorful and highly descriptive maps in the document.
The report has been delivered to a wide audience of all of the relevant parties. Here is a copy of the introductory letter including a list of the first round of recipients.
Aravaipa Region Environmental Impact Research
CWG member David Omick has authored DEIS contributions for the BLM on the Aravaipa watershed and lower San Pedro River Valley, using Daniel's original report as a template (along with assistance from Bob, Monica and others).
As Peter Else from the Friends of the Aravaipa Region (FAR) said in their recent newsletter...
"This 145-page document might be described by principal author, David Omick, as "What I did on my summer vacation." David, a resident of Cascabel and member of the Cascabel Working Group, spent hundreds of hours at the computer documenting what is at stake in the Aravaipa region, when he could have been outdoors or doing any number of activities he enjoys. However, he was driven by the knowledge that this very brief SunZia proposal review period could significantly affect the fate of a unique region that took hundreds of thousands of years to develop into its current beautiful and life-sustaining state."
For an example of brief quotes from other research done on the environmental effects of utility corridors (used as one of our display panels at the January 13th meeting), please click here