A U.S. district judge has dismissed lawsuits from Native American tribes and environmentalists seeking to stop construction of part of a $10 billion power transmission line that will transport wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away. like California.
Judge Jennifer Zipps said in her ruling issued Thursday that the plaintiffs came too late to file their challenge. This followed an earlier decision in which she dismissed his requests for a preliminary injunction, saying the Bureau of Land Management had met its obligations to identify historic sites and prepare an inventory of cultural resources.
The disputed stretch of the SunZia transmission line is located in the San Pedro Valley of southern Arizona and passes through an area that has historical, cultural and religious significance to the tribes.
The Tohono O’odham Nation, along with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Center for Biological Diversity and Southwest Archeology, filed a lawsuit in January hoping to stop the clearing of roads and platforms so more work could be done to identify sites culturally significant within a 50-mile stretch of the valley.
California-based developer Pattern Energy called the ruling a victory for the region, citing the jobs and billions of dollars in economic development and investment that will result from the project.
“This decision provides assurance that projects that follow permitting processes and obtain appropriate approvals will not be threatened years later by unfounded legal claims,” Pattern development director Cary Kottler said in an email to The KeynoteUSA. “We remain committed to carrying out our work with the same integrity and dedication that has always defined us, including in a manner respectful of tribal sovereignty and the protection of cultural resources.”
The tribes did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Tohono O’odham Nation vowed in April to pursue all legal avenues, and environmentalists said an appeal is likely.
“This power company has been working very hard to pretend that they can solve the problem by destroying as much as possible as quickly as they can,” said Robin Silver, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity. “That does not work”.
SunZia is among projects that supporters say will bolster President Joe Biden’s agenda to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The planned 550-mile pipeline would transport more than 3,500 megawatts of wind energy to 3 million people.
The tribes asked a federal appeals court to intervene in April, arguing that the federal government has separate legal obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and that the Bureau of Land Management’s interpretation of How its obligations apply to SunZia project should be reviewed.
The U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, declined to comment on the ruling.
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