Local Planning and the Electric Power Industry: Lessons from the San Gorgonio Pass

摘要

The electric power industry is changing in significant ways, but the role of local planners in guiding that change has not yet been clearly articulated. This article seeks to clarify that role by reporting and interpreting what happened in Palm Springs, California, when local planners confronted intense wind energy development pressure. There, local planners constrained development because the local structure of electric power supply did not permit the risks and benefits of wind energy development to be allocated in a manner that local residents considered fair. Development could have been less constrained if local planners had diverged from their traditional role as land use regulators and instead explored alternative local electric power structures. (ERA citation 11:031770)