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[Lightningrod]

A proposed power-line system to deliver renewable energy across the Southwest could disturb habitat for sensitive species, harm more than 300 cultural sites, damage scenic views and increase fire risk while it's being built, a new federal environmental report says.
But the Bureau of Land Management report also says that many of these impacts could be eased or otherwise mitigated by careful planning.
The agency's draft SunZia environmental impact statement estimates that its preferred, 530-mile-long route, containing two 500KV power lines, could generate about 2,500 to 3,000 construction jobs lasting two to three years in Arizona and New Mexico. It would also add 3,000 to 4,500 megawatts of power, enough to serve between about 750,000 and 1.125 million homes.
But it's also stirring up controversy among rural Southern Arizona residents, particularly those in the San Pedro River valley east of Tucson.
This route would snake across high and low deserts, grasslands, riparian areas, conifer forests, chaparral and other natural habitats as it delivers power from as yet unbuilt wind and solar energy facilities in this region to customers in four states.
The transmission towers would stand about 135 feet high, as tall or taller than a 10-story building, with the lines about 110 feet high.
Such systems typically cost $1 million to $2 million a mile, totalling between $530 million and $1.06 billion.



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