Power Plant Hearing

From the :

A new report from the California Energy Commission is recommending approval of a new power plant along Carlsbad’s coastline, but the public has one more chance to provide input before the full California Energy Commission weighs in. 

Carlsbad city officials are urging the public to attend the upcoming hearing and make their views known directly to the California Energy Commission. The City of Carlsbad opposes building a second power plant on the coast, but the authority to approve or deny the project lies with the state of California, not the city. 

 “It’s pretty unbelievable in this day and age that the state thinks it’s okay to put two new industrial smokestacks along the coastline,” said Matt Hall, mayor of the City of Carlsbad. “It’s critical that the public come to this last hearing and tell the energy commission to fully consider community input before making a final decision.” 

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 19

Hilton Garden Inn
Wavecrest Ballroom
6450 Carlsbad Blvd
Carlsbad, CA  92011

Public comment starts at 5:30 p.m.  

In addition to listening to public comments, commissioners will discuss fire safety; recent power plant fires in Connecticut and Escondido; lessons learned from the Japanese earthquake and resulting tsunami; federal standards for air quality; and the requirements of South Carlsbad Redevelopment Plan.

Written comments can be sent to the California Energy Commission until 5 p.m., June 8, 2011. Comments may be sent by email to: docket@energy.state.ca.us or Energy Commission Docket Unit, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-4, Sacramento, CA 95814. Identify all comments with "Docket No. 07-AFC-6." 

The new power plant being proposed by NRG does not depend on ocean water for cooling and therefore does not need to be located by the coast. It is a natural-gas-fired combined-cycle power plant that includes two nine-story buildings and two 14-story smokestacks immediately adjacent to Interstate 5 and the . Since the power plant was proposed in late 2007, the City ofCarlsbad and others throughout the region have raised a number of concerns:

• Today’s smaller, air cooled plants do not need to be located near water and should instead be built in industrial areas.
• Once I-5 is widened, the plant would be dangerously close to the freeway and would be the closest power plant ever to a major highway.
• Fire officials have said the proposed site, wedged between the I-5 freeway and railroad tracks, lacks access for fire engines and other emergency vehicles. The recent fire at a similar plant in Escondido last December highlighted this concern.
• NRG doesn’t have a contract to sell the power locally, raising concerns that power generated inSan Diegowould have no local benefit, instead being used to powerLos Angeles,ArizonaorLas Vegas.

Hall pointed out that the Carlsbad case has implications for the entire state, where dozens of old, obsolete coastal power plants will eventually need to be replaced. “Sure, it’s easier to build a new plant right next to an old one, but just because it’s easier, doesn’t make it right,” said Hall. “Preserving our coastline is too important to settle for the easy solution. These days, power plants are tucked in industrial parks all over the country. It’s doable.” When the old plant is eventually torn down, city officials said they would like to see the land improved in a way that increases beach and lagoon access and benefits the community. Building a new power plant there would severely limit what could be done with the site, officials have said. The California Energy Commission is expected to vote on the project in June. Even if the commission votes to license the plant, the project must receive permits from the California State Lands Commission and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.