Tribes, NPOs seek to block SunZia transmission project in US

Certain tribes and non-profit organisations in the US have filed a lawsuit against the federal government’s decision to allow the SunZia transmission line between central New Mexico and south-central Arizona and are asking the court to halt construction works on the multi-billion project.

The legal action was taken by a group including the Tohono O’odham Nation, the San Carlos Apache, Archaeology Southwest and the Center for Biological Diversity, which seek to preserve the remote San Pedro Valley in southeastern Arizona and take it out of the project’s route.

The lawsuit was submitted with the US District Court in Tucson, Arizona on January 17.

The action challenges the US Bureau of Land Management's (BLM), claiming that it failed to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, among others, before authorising the partial construction of the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project.

The plaintiffs claim that the project will “cut through the heart of the middle and lower San Pedro Valley and will cause serious, irreversible adverse effects on Tribal cultural sites and sacred areas, including areas with human remains.” The BLM is blamed for refusing to recognise the “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the park to Native American tribes and not sparing it from industrial fragmentation.

The planned SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind are touted as the biggest clean energy infrastructure project in US history.

Pattern Energy last year obtained final approval for the project from the BLM and held a groundbreaking ceremony in September. In December, the company secured USD 11 billion (EUR 10.1bn) in loan facilities to support the project’s realisation.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.918)

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