Legal challenge to SunZia project gets a lifeline

A federal appeals court has revived a legal challenge to a major Southwest electric transmission line, in a win for local tribes and advocacy groups opposing the construction plans for the clean energy project.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling dismissing claims that the Interior Department had failed to properly consult about the potential damage to historical and cultural sites in the path of the 550-mile SunZia line in the San Pedro Valley.
The planned transmission line is designed to provide 3 million customers in California and Arizona with mostly renewable power, and would extend from New Mexico to Arizona.
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The appeals court found that Tohono O'odham Nation, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Archaeology Southwest and the Center for Biological Diversity had 'plausibly alleged' that the Interior had violated a negotiated agreement for the implementation of the project, known as a programmatic agreement or PA.

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