State acts on San Diego Gas & Electric flights into eagle 'no fly' zones

State regulators have ordered San Diego Gas & Electric to retain flight-data records that could verify each time its contract pilots ventured into “no-fly” zones designed to protect golden eagles during construction of the Sunrise Powerlink project.

The GPS data was being deleted automatically after 45 days.

The Watchdog last week reported three new violations of the “no-fly” zone in the past month. State regulators turned up a fourth violation Feb. 1.

In addition to the order to retain data, the California Public Utilities Commission asked SDG&E to produce flight information dating to Dec. 16 in an effort to find out if there have been more than the four violations already discovered.

The $1.9 billion project is nearly complete, a 117-mile high-voltage power line from Imperial County to San Diego County.

“We understand that the collection of this data are time-consuming, but we also know that you understand the importance of providing the CPUC with access to the data as soon as possible,” the commission wrote to SDG&E.

A GPS program the utility launched after similar violations last year was supposed to resolve the issue. The utility has been written up for at least 70 other incidents since construction began in late 2010.

SDG&E spokeswoman Jennifer Ramp said the company is complying with the request. Ramp said the most recent incursions occurred before a deficiency in the GPS technology was discovered.

“As a result, a larger restricted buffer zone was created to improve control of aerial activities near the established 4,000-foot eagle buffer zone,” she said. “And as we discussed a couple of weeks ago, we are looking into improved technology for the current technology in the helicopters to alert pilots when they are near a buffer area.”

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, a longtime critic of the project and the utility, noted that SDG&E said last year that the tracking devices would prevent further incursions.

“The public deserves to know exactly why the devices failed. The public also needs to know if there were other violations dating back to Dec. 16,” she said.

The company indefinitely suspended two contract pilots last month for failing to comply with construction permit conditions.

The “no-fly” zones are important because they are designated to protect the environmentally threatened birds. Regulators opened their latest investigation in late January after an East County resident reported what appeared to be improper breaches.

Regulators said they expect state monitors to start reviewing flight data Monday, and for the company to deliver all of the requested data by next Friday.

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