NextEra Pulls Back from Portal Ridge Permit Request

By Patric Hedlund

Susan Zahnter and her neighbors were mobilized last year by visions of a forest of 500-foot wind turbines marching across the pristine view of Portal Ridge (near Elizabeth Lake) and surrounding the California Poppy Reserve in the Western Antelope Valley.

Residents of Three Points, Lake Hughes, Elizabeth Lake, Quartz Hill, Antelope Acres and the Fairmont areas signed petitions against the plans of NextEra Energy Resources and Element Power, Inc. to build meteorological towers (met towers) to study wind conditions in the region. The data was needed to prepare upcoming environmental impact reports (EIRs). The NextEra wind farm site is about 7,500 acres; 90 wind turbines— each 500-feet high—were proposed.

The Los Angeles County Planning Commission granted conditional use permits (CUPs) to build the 200-foot met towers. Residents countered by appealing the CUPs.

On Tuesday, Jan. 24 the L.A. County Board of Supervisors denied the companies’ CUPs.

Within hours, attorneys for NextEra issued a letter to say the company “will not be pursuing the Met Tower permit for the Blue Sky project at this time.” It thanked politicians and the community for the dialogue, saying the Blue Sky project is among the best in the country but that they will focus resources on projects in California and the nation “further along in the permitting process.” They said they do expect to be back “to pick up the dialogue with the community.”

This is part of the January 27, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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