Environmentalists concerned about power plant expansion TROUBLED WATERS, from page 1
By Daily Press staff
Two local environmental organizations plan to take legal steps in an effort to further scrutinize a power plant expansion that they claim would have devastating effects on the Santa Monica Bay.
The Santa Monica Baykeeper and Heal the Bay hoped to file a petition on Friday with the California Supreme Court asking the court to hear a case concerning the California Energy Commission’s February decision to license the expansion of an El Segundo power plant without knowing the likely environmental impacts or mitigation.
However, lawyers for the organizations failed to meet the court’s deadline to file the legal briefs on Friday by 5 p.m. As a result, they were scrambling late Friday to file a request for the court’s reconsideration to hear the matter, said Hallie Jones, a spokeswoman for Heal the Bay.
The Commission approved the redevelopment plan for the El Segundo Redevelopment Project, co-owned by Houston-based Dyn-egy Inc., and New Jersey-based NRG Energy, Inc., over strong objections from the Commission’s own staff, the California Coastal Commission, the environmental community and local residents, the organizations’ representatives said.
The power plant’s proposed redevelopment calls for the plant to withdraw 127 billion gallons of sea water from the Santa Monica Bay each year for cooling purposes — the equivalent of four Rose Bowls worth of water every day of the year, environmentalists claim.
“Our primary concern is understanding the impacts that this expanded facility will have on the marine environment,” said Dr. Craig Shuman, staff scientist at Heal the Bay. “There needs to be a study done to understand how many organisms will be sucked in and killed by this intake, how that will affect marine life in the Santa Monica Bay, and the CEC needs to require El Segundo Power to mitigate these impacts.
“We’re not asking for the project to be stopped or even delayed, all we want is to understand the impacts of the redevelopment without slowing down the project,” he added.
According to expert testimony in the record, the proposed redevelopment will result in the deaths of thousands of fish, millions of invertebrate and fish eggs and larvae, and trillions of plankton, environmentalists say.
Heal the Bay and Santa Monica Baykeeper contend that the people of California are lacking the right of due process with the California Energy Commission. In California, the only process through which to appeal an Energy Commission decision is by petitioning the California Supreme Court to hear the case. Should the Supreme Court decline the petition, there would be no other legal recourse and no judicial review of the decision, the organizations’ representatives say.
“From a legal perspective,” said Tracy Egoscue, executive director of Santa Monica Baykeeper. “It’s troubling that the Energy Commission asserts that this project will not result in significant adverse environmental impacts, while the same agency has determined that every other coastal power plant is indeed harmful. Furthermore, this is our only opportunity to appeal the Energy Commission’s decision.
“We’re also questioning the legality of the CEC’s decision to ignore the California Coastal Commission’s right to approve or disapprove the project,” she said.
Santa Monica Baykeeper is a community-based environmental organization whose mission is to protect and restore Santa Monica Bay, San Pedro Bay and adjacent waters. Heal the Bay strives to make Southern California waters safer and healthier for people and marine life through an approach that combines science, advocacy and education.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 5, 2005. Read the original PDF.