By
Blake Smith
Arizona Daily Wildcat
ABOR will decide if the line should be installed at Friday
After 10 years of controversy, a proposal to give electrical power to the University of Arizona's Mount Graham Observatory will finally be decided tomorrow.
The Arizona Board of Regents will examine the plan to install a 23-mile power line that would eliminate the need for generators to power the three telescopes on the mountain.
The observatory's telescopes and facilities currently run on diesel fuel generators. The power lines, which could be completely underground, would become the source of energy for the facilities.
"Diesel fuel can be dangerous. The power line would reduce pollution and be cheaper," said Joel Valdez, UA senior vice president for business affairs.
With diesel fuel keeping operations running on Mount Graham, near Safford, the university is paying nearly 28 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The total cost of power from the $12 million electrical line would be less than that, Valdez said.
The project, originally proposed 10 years ago, was expected to cost $9 million. Valdez said that inflation boosted the cost by nearly $3 million.
A bid for the project is going out any minute, said Valdez, and the line could be operational soon.
Dr. Robin Silver, conservation chair for the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, said he agrees the power line would be better for the environment but still opposes the project.
He paralleled the situation to a builder constructing homes on land that is environmentally sensitive and then sitting down with interested residents to look at ways to reduce environmental problems from the construction.
Silver said he fears the installation of an electrical line could set the stage for expansion of the observatory.
The UA has built on three of the seven sites it has been allotted by a federal government mandate on the mountain.
The San Carlos Indian Tribe and Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, in longtime opposition to the observatory, filed a lawsuit in June to prevent the project from moving forward. It is still in litigation.
Valdez said there have been nearly 35 lawsuits filed since the project permits were issued 10 years ago.
Silver added that this situation is a dilemma for environmental groups because they do oppose the installation of the power line, even though it would be better for the environment than diesel fuel.
But Silver said the underlying issue is not whether a power line should be installed but if the observatory should be at its present location at all.
"There would be no conflict if it was just about a power line," Silver said.
The observatory now accounts for 8.6 acres of 2,000 pure spruce acreage on the mountain. Mount Graham is home to the southernmost location for pure spruce in the world.
The UA received the first-ever university environmental exemption by way of the 1988 Arizona/Idaho Conservation Act, Silver said.
President Ronald Reagan signed the act, which stated the "Secretary of Agriculture will immediately allow construction of three telescopes (plus four more in the future) on no more than 24 acres."
Two telescopes were built on Mount Graham by 1993.
In July 1994, a third telescope's construction was challenged in court, and the construction of Mount Graham's Large Binocular Telescope was suspended until further environmental studies were conducted.
But one aspect of the dilemma that has seemingly been forgotten is the fact that the power line would run through revered American Indian land.
"Mount Graham is a sacred mountain. There are many things up there that belong to the Apaches," said Michael Davis, a member of the Apache Survival Coalition.
"It's been 10 years, and it will take 10 more," Davis said. "We will not leave."
Silver said the fight will continue, not only to prevent the university from installing the power line but every environmental issue that arises from the Mount Graham Observatory project.
