We, as residents of Warner Springs, are firmly opposed to the Golden Pacific Powerlink (GPP) project. We find the proposal illogical and impactful to our community in many ways.

Residents of Warner Springs choose to live here for a quiet and peaceful lifestyle that has, by and large, disappeared from the rest of Southern California. Our quality of life would be severely impacted by the towering, noisy, and potentially hazardous structures of the GPP.

The economic base of Warner Springs depends largely on tourism and property taxes. Tribal reservations, family-owned wineries and vineyards, historic sites, a storied resort, glider port, small ranches, and farms predominate the area. The appeal to tourists and property values would be devastated by the industrialization that construction of the GPP would bring to this rural community. Our rich history includes sites associated with indigenous tribes and early settlers; humming overhead wires strung between skyscraper-sized towers would significantly degrade the historical setting of these irreplaceable links to California’s past.

The proposed route of the GPP through Warner Springs follows one of the most sensitive riparian corridors in Southern California. Many protected and endangered species (the Arroyo southwestern toad, Quino checkerspot butterfly, Least Bell’s vireo, and Golden eagle, to name only a few) depend on this corridor for their survival. Wildlife will find the towers and easement roads cut to them a physical barrier to their movement, and a unique, largely still intact ecosystem will be irreversibly disturbed.

Warner Springs faces extreme wildfire dangers and is designated a “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone”. The SR-79 highway, along which the GPP would run through our area, is the sole evacuation route for residents and our numerous animals, large and small. Were a fire to spark along these proposed power lines (a known hazard), the result could be catastrophic in terms of loss of life and property.

Technological innovations are making new long-distance power links obsolete. Upgrading existing infrastructure (as implemented on the Sunrise and Southwest Powerlinks) is one option, as are local and on-site energy production and storage, eliminating the need for long-distance transmission while ensuring redundancy and security of power distribution.

We urge you to rethink the Golden Pacific Powerlink project and spare our area. Projected energy needs can be satisfied by new technologies without disrupting life in Warner Springs, a relic of a bygone era which will be missed when it is gone.

*the WS CSG does not solicit nor receive any donations made to Change.org*