Native American and enviromental groups have filed a law suit against the university to keep it from moving forward with the project. Large Binocular Telescope Corp. 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.
With diesel fuel keeping operations running on Mount Graham, near Safford, the university is paying nearly 28 cents per kilowatt-hour. 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.