http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-sagegrouse27apr27,1,2706988,print.story

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-sagegrouse27apr27,1,2706988,print.story

By Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

San Francisco Chronicle

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The fear that the two high-profile commissioners might use their considerable star power to fight a giant new power line that is set to cut across California's largest state park - with the governor's blessing - may have also played into Schwarzenegger's thinking.

At issue is a $1.3 billion power line that San Diego Gas and Electric Co. wants to erect across a 22-mile stretch of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which covers 600,000 acres of eastern San Diego and Imperial counties.

The Schwarzenegger administration sees the power line as an essential component of its effort to reduce greenhouse gases, because it would hook 650,000 homes in San Diego County to electricity that could be generated by a solar power plant being built in the desert and geothermal energy from the Salton Sea.

A number of alternative routes have been identified that would bypass Anza-Borrego, but San Diego Gas and Electric says all of them would make the 150-mile project far more costly and difficult to build.

State Park and Recreation Commission members had yet to take an official stance on the power line before Schwarzenegger refused to renew Shriver's and Eastwood's terms on the panel in March. But well beforehand, state parks Director Ruth Coleman had already fired off a warning shot - saying the power line "would forever change the character of the pristine park" and "set a dangerous precedent" by giving private developers and utility companies access to protected park lands.

Toss in the fact that Shriver, who was chairman of the commission, and Eastwood, who was the vice chairman, both opposed Schwarzenegger's plan to build a toll road between Orange County and San Diego that would cut through San Onofre State Beach, and their fate may have been sealed.

"People (in the governor's office) probably came to the view that we were obstructionists, and effective obstructionists, and didn't want us around anymore," said Shriver, brother of California first lady Maria Shriver.

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Lisa Page said Friday that the only reason Bobby Shriver and Eastwood weren't reappointed was because "the governor wanted to let new people serve on the commission."

However, no replacements have been named yet.

In the meantime, the San Diego utility, owned by Sempra Energy, has tried to tone down the Anza-Borrego controversy by offering to run the line through an area of the state park that is already dotted with 70-foot-tall wooden power poles. The catch: The wooden poles would be replaced by metal towers or poles standing up to 160 feet, which would be visible for miles.

Page said the governor hasn't endorsed any single path for the project, and certainly doesn't want it to run through the park "if it can be avoided." On the other hand, as the governor himself told a climate change audience at Yale earlier this month, delivering renewable energy means living "in the real world."

"We have to make some trade-offs ... because the fact of the matter is nothing is perfect," he said. "Solar still needs transmission lines."

And controversial as power lines through a park may be, the governor may have an ace up his sleeve.

The U.S. Energy Department recently designated the park area as one of two electric transmission corridors vital to national security - meaning federal regulators themselves could trump any parks commission decision to block the new line.

Finger waving: A new state law banning all but the most hardened teens from being sent to the California Youth Authority is being blamed, at least in part, for last Monday's brawl that left four youths injured at an Alameda County youth detention camp.

The fight started when an African American and a Latino youth got into a scuffle in their dorm room at Camp Sweeney in San Leandro. About two hours later, an apparently racially motivated second fight erupted - this time involving about 10 kids inside the recreation room.

Some of the combatants wielded cue sticks and billiard balls, and at least one boy was struck in the ribs and taken to the hospital. It took two dozen sheriff's deputies and juvenile hall staffers to restore order.

Well, now juvenile hall officials say two youths believed to have instigated the bigger fight probably never should have been there - and would have been certain candidates a year ago for the CYA.

But as a result of the passage in September of SB81 - intended to keep all but the most dangerous juveniles out of the state's custody - the two boys are now among 31 youths who instead have remained wards of the county.

And both - whose rap sheets include arrests for robberies - have pretty much worn out their welcome in the local system, according to Alameda County Deputy Probation chief Bill Fenton.

The two are expected to be charged in connection with Monday's melee - which could result in a bit of added time spent at the county juvenile hall. Just not where the locals think they belong - at CYA.

Olympic spirit: Vladimir Prikupets, a 75-year-old Olympic torch runner who had his car towed in San Francisco the day of the big run, is finally getting a break.

John Wicker, who heads the local tow operation, is paying Prikupets' towing charges and some other related expenses out of his own pocket - a total of $380.

Prikupets - who has four torch runs and a couple of heart bypass surgeries under his belt - parked his car at a meter on O'Farrell Street near the Hilton on April 9, put up his disabled parking pass and headed for the runners' bus.

"They told us we would be back by 2 o'clock," Prikupets said.

Instead, amid raucous exchanges between pro-Chinese and anti-Chinese protesters, city officials did a last-second switcheroo and moved the torch run halfway across town. Prikupets found himself stuck for hours. By the time he got back, the meter had turned into a tow-away zone and the car was gone.

The next day, Prikupets went down to the tow yard to get his car back. To bolster his case, he dressed in his official Olympic running outfit - even bringing in one of his old Olympic torches.

He got on TV, but seemed to be getting nowhere with a refund until Wicker stepped up - and sprang for the gold.

"It was an extraordinary situation," Wicker said, "so it took an extraordinary solution."

EXTRA! Catch our Web page at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Phil can be seen on CBS 5-TV's morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/27/BAC010C2PL.DTL

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle