Fund the case
Writing comments was free. The next part is not.
Five protests were filed against SDG&E's application. All five asked the Commission for public evidentiary hearings. SDG&E asked to be approved without any.
That question gets decided at a prehearing conference, and issues left out of the scope there generally cannot be raised later. Hundreds of you wrote to the CPUC during scoping, and it mattered. What no one can do for free is cross-examine SDG&E's engineers about a fire model run at 8 mph winds.
ECAPS is raising $100,000 to carry Proceeding A.26-05-005 through hearings, in two pieces against two deadlines.
First $40,000 - counsel on the record. The retainer for CPUC regulatory counsel, our prehearing conference statement, and party-status filings. The Commission has not yet set the conference date, which is exactly why this money has to be in hand before it does. If we are not represented when the scope is set, it is set without us.
Next $60,000 - the evidence. The wildfire behavior expert who re-runs SDG&E's fire model at the winds that actually drive fires here. The transmission engineering expert who puts a real number on undergrounding the eleven-mile overhead segment. The consultant who reads the Draft EIR when it publishes in 2027. And the cost of putting sworn testimony into the record. This is the money that turns our objections into evidence SDG&E has to answer.
Every dollar is held for this case.
What it takes to get there
1 x $25,000 = $25,000
2 x $10,000 = $20,000
4 x $5,000 = $20,000
10 x $1,000 = $10,000
20 x $500 = $10,000
40 x $250 = $10,000
100 x $100 = $10,000
That is about 175 households, businesses and organizations. Not a thousand. If you are on or near the route, you are one of them.
Your gift is tax-deductible
ECAPS is the powerline-safety program of East County Alliance, a 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 42-3687823. Your gift is deductible to the full extent allowed by law. We send a written acknowledgment for every gift of $250 or more, stating that no goods or services were provided in exchange, which is the receipt the IRS asks you to keep.
Ways to give
PayPal. Donate through PayPal - card or bank transfer, no PayPal account needed. Gifts go to East County Alliance.
Check. Payable to East County Alliance, mailed to ECAPS - East County Alliance, 321 Alpine Trail Rd, Alpine CA 91901.
Monthly. $25 a month is $300 a year, and recurring gifts are what let us commit to counsel before the money is all in hand.
Appreciated stock. If you give stock you have held more than a year, you deduct the full market value and pay no capital gains tax on the increase. The same gift costs you less than writing a check. Email Info@AlpineCA.ORG
IRA distribution, if you are 70 1/2 or older. A qualified charitable distribution goes straight from your IRA to the Alliance, counts toward your required minimum distribution, and never shows up as taxable income. For many retired households this is the cheapest way to give. Email Info@AlpineCA.ORG
Employer match. Many employers match charitable gifts dollar for dollar. Ask yours, and tell us so we can count it.
We are not tax advisors. For stock, IRA or estate gifts, check with yours.