Susan Montoya Bryan and Ken Ritter
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal judge is being asked to issue a stop-work order on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote southeastern Arizona valley to carry wind-powered electricity to customers as far away as California.
A 32-page lawsuit filed on Jan. 17 in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Arizona, accuses the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management of refusing for nearly 15 years to recognize “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the remote San Pedro Valley to tribes including the Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni and Western Apache.
The suit was filed shortly after Pattern Energy received approval to transmit electricity generated by its SunZia Transmission wind farm in central New Mexico through the San Pedro Valley east of Tucson and north of Interstate 10.
The lawsuit calls the valley “one of the most intact, prehistoric and historical … landscapes in southern Arizona,” and asks the court to issue restraining orders or permanent injunctions to halt construction.