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BIA managed SCIP (San Carlos Irrigation Project) has come under fire after the company placed a moratorium on new construction in the Campo Bonito area near Oracle. John Hernandez | Copper Area News
By James J. Hodl
Copper Area News
More power to the people? Not necessarily if you live in southern Pinal County around the towns of Oracle and Mammoth and your local electricity provider is the San Carlos Irrigation Project (SCIP).
And this inability has local business people concerned that SCIP is retarding real estate and business development along with job creation in the area. And the continued inability to develop the area also could negatively impact local real estate prices, they said.
These concerns have now resulted in a July 1 meeting hosted by Pinal County Supervisor Pete Rios to see what can be done to rectify the situation, going even as far as replacing SCIP with another electric utility.
Business people in Oracle were surprised to learn in April that real estate developers lost interest in acquiring two properties near Campo Bonito and Mount Lemmon after SCIP informed them it couldn’t guarantee it could provide electricity for the proposed 600 to 800 homes.
“Those two buyers (were) willing to buy about 700 acres of land to subdivide and develop into new communities of homes. They couldn’t understand why with SCIP service lines running along the edge of these two properties why SCIP couldn’t promise electrical service for the proposed structures,” one Oracle realtor toldCopper Area News.
The reason, according to Art Johnson, SCIP electrical engineering technician, is that SCIP electric lines are operating near the maximum load capacity they were designed to deliver and thus cannot accept many more customers
What was worse, the realtor added, SCIP seems unable to correct the load capacity problems.
Unlike most other electric utilities, SCIP is exempt from regulation from the Arizona Corporations Commission (ACC) because it is based on a nearby Indian Reservation and is under the management of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). And according to BIA, the agency’s current budget doesn’t include the millions of dollars need to upgrade SCIP’s load capacity.
Much of SCIP’s system in the Oracle/Mammoth area dates back to the 1950s, and the age of lines and equipment is likely the reason customers have suffered power outages and brownouts in recent years. Some outages have lasted long enough to result in spoilage of foods in refrigerators and freezers, and for a local coffee roaster to suffer loss of a day’s batch of coffee beans.
“Over the years, SCIP has improved old insulators, upgraded and maintained transmission lines, but the system still is in need of a major upgrade,” Johnson said. “But it doesn’t make sense to spend $20 million for upgrading lines outside of Oracle and Mammoth for the small number of homes that might be built at Campo Bonito.”
Johnson emphasized that SCIP is a reluctant electricity provider. It took over a territory built by an earlier electrical co-op with support from the now defunct Rural Electrification Administration so that ranchers along State Route 77 wouldn’t go dark.
With the cost of rebuilding power lines for higher delivery capacity at about $1 million a mile, and with fewer dollars being allocated to BIA in the U.S. Department of the Interior budget approved by Congress, SCIP is open to relinquishing some of its service territory.
“In the past, when developers proposed the SaddleBrooke, SaddleBrooke Ranch and Willow Springs subdivisions, the areas were switched from SCIP to Trico Electric,” Johnson noted. Trico is a Marana-based co-op utility that serves areas just south of Oracle and southwest of Mammoth.
This policy runs opposite of what happened 15 years ago, when legislation was negotiated with Sen. John McCain to transfer SCIP’s service territory to another Arizona utility, only to have BIA quash the proposal, claiming it would reduce local Native American employment.
“Something needs to be done to assure an adequate supply of electricity to our area and in needs to be done as soon as possible,” said Alicia Bristow, an Oracle business owner and president of the Oracle Women’s Network.
To fill that need, Bristow has been organizing a group of local business people, realtors and homeowners to make sure that SCIP doesn’t hold back the area’s economic growth. Backed by current members, Bristow took their concerns to local politicians, from whom she found willing ears from Pete Rios and U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.
As the campaign’s first step, assorted Oracle business people, a cattle rancher and two realtors explained the current situation and proposed ways the issues could be resolved at a meeting held July 1 in the offices of Rios.
Bristow complained at how unprepared SCIP was for the future, as it compiled no reports predicting load capacities necessary to meet customer needs five years into the future as utilities regulated by ACC are required to do. She said it was no wonder SCIP is in its current situation.
Also discussed were ways to bring area electrical service up to modern levels. One suggestion was having a senator or Congressman insert an earmark into a future budget providing BIA with funds to upgrade SCIP. But a more popular suggestion was simply having another utility take over SCIP’s service territory.
Blanca Varela, who represented Rep. Kirkpatrick at the meeting, listened to all attendees and, on the basis of the information they provided, said she would urge Kirkpatrick to hold hearings on the situation.
Following the meeting, Rios toldCopper Area Newshis preference was that if SCIP didn’t have the resources necessary to expand to meet modern needs, it should give up its service territory to APS, SRP, Trico or another utility that will.
Himanshu Patel, community development director with the Pinal County Economic Development Program, said the two projects southeast of Oracle are only the tip of the iceberg for potential development in southern Pinal County.
“Developers bought scores of properties near Mammoth, in Oro Valley and along the Route 77 corridor before the economy dipped in late 2008. Dormant since then, development proposals for them may now be forthcoming with the economy on the upswing,” Patel said. “These will include not only housing subdivisions but business parks and recreational areas.”
But developers apparently have no desire to incur the full cost of rebuilding of power lines in the area; only the nominal charges for running lines to individual homes and businesses off the main grid, he added. Not having a utility willing to invest in the future could delay further development of the area between Oracle and Mammoth.
James J. Hodl is a career journalist who has worked for newspapers, magazines and trade journals. A graduate of Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism, Hodl began his career as a reporter with the Palatine (IL) Herald and the Morton Grove (IL) Review before becoming editor of the trade publication Appliance Service News. In recent years, Hodl has had articles published in Consumers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Home Remodeling, Kitchens & Baths and Salute; and has contributed to trade publications serving the home furnishings, restaurant and casino markets. A native of Chicago, Hodl relocated to San Tan Valley in 2013.
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