Boulder Brush Facilities

The Project includes a Major Use Permit (PDS2019-MUP-19-002). The Boulder Brush Facilities include an overhead 230 kilovolt generation transmission (gen-tie) line, a high voltage substation, a switchyard, in/out connection to the existing Sunrise Powerlink, and access roads on private land under the jurisdiction of the County of San Diego. The gen-tie line would carry wind generated energy from the proposed Campo Wind Facilities on the Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians Reservation to the substation and switchyard on private land. The gen-tie line on private land would be approximately 3.5 miles in length and would include approximately 32 steel poles at a maximum height of 150 feet. The Boulder Brush Facilities will be subject to a MUP. The in/out connection and the switchyard would be owned and operated by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and therefore would be under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission. The proposed facilities under the County’s land use jurisdiction would be located within a 320-acre corridor in the McCain Valley area, north of the community of Boulevard and Interstate 8 (I-8), within the Mountain Empire Subregion of the County. Primary access would be provided from I-8 with local access through Ribbonwood Road. For purposes of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the Project consists of the Boulder Brush Facilities, as described above, and the Campo Wind Facilities that would be located within a 2,200-acre corridor on land leased from the Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians within the Reservation. The Project in the DEIR is referred to as the Campo Wind Project with Boulder Brush Facilities. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has jurisdiction over the portion of the Project within the Reservation. The Project would consist of the construction, operation, maintenance, and ultimately the decommissioning of a renewable wind energy generation project (252 megawatts). The proposed facilities on the Reservation include 60 wind turbines, three permanent meteorological (MET) towers, six temporary MET towers, a collector substation, a 5-mile portion of the gen-tie line, an operations and maintenance facility, water collection and septic systems, an electrical collection and communications system, access roads, a temporary concrete batch plant, and an equipment staging and parking area for use during construction. The Project is anticipated to operate for the term of the Campo Reservation lease and any renewal extension (approximately 30 years, at minimum), after which it would be decommissioned, except for the SDG&E-owned and operated switchyard and connection lines to Sunrise Powerlink, which would not be decommissioned.