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GUEST: John Davis, Recyclable Resource Consultant with Wildlife Conservancy

More than a dozen environmental groups have recently spoken out against the City of Los Angeles’ “Green Path Project.” The project is an environmental plan that will allow the shipment of solar, geothermal, and nuclear power from remote rural areas to urban cities in the Southern California region. The project is part of Mayor Villaraigosa’s larger initiative to reduce dependence on fossil fuels by increasing the use of renewable energy resources. The City of Los Angeles aims to provide enough renewable energy to meet 20% of the city’s power needs by 2010. However, the current route as proposed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has received severe criticism from various conservationist groups. As it stands, the route of the power lines would cut through two wildlife preserves, a national forest, and a scenic settlement used in many western movies. The LADWP admits that the project will necessarily damage the environment in some way but it argues that the need for renewable energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases outweighs the project’s disadvantages.

For more information about LA’s Green Path Program, visit www.greenpath.us.