State energy commissioners visit AES Corp.

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- State energy officials took a personal look at AES

Corp.’s plans to bring two silent energy generators online at its Surf

City power plant, giving residents and city officials a forum to voice

their concerns on the project.

California State Energy commissioners Robert Pernell and Arthur

Rosenfeld, joined by a number of commission staff, toured the site Feb.

21 with about 100 visitors. The two sit on the commission’s Huntington

Beach Power Plant Review Committee, which is studying the AES proposal.

They hosted a community meeting later that evening.

“We want to make sure that we communicate with the community on this

project, and take what we learn here back to the commission,” Pernell

said. “This is not a closed-door process.”

With a statewide energy crisis in effect, AES officials hope to start

up power-generating units No. 3 and No. 4 at their 21730 Newland St.

location. Southern California Edison Co., the plant’s previous owner,

retired the generators in 1995 because energy was not in short supply at

the time and the cost of repairing the units proved too high.

With the two generators online, AES’ output would increase by 450

megawatts, enough energy to power 450,000 homes, said Ed Blackford,

president and site manager of the plant.

But during the public hearing, residents stressed that AES needs to be

a good neighbor and address issues such as air and ocean water quality,

facility blight and safety, as well as aesthetics. Any power produced by

the newly refurbished units should stay in state, they added.

“This project is huge and ugly,” said Randy Kokal, a resident and city

planning commissioner, adding while the power is needed, the quality of

life in Huntington Beach must be maintained.

Studies are underway to determine whether an ocean water intake pipe

used in AES’ cooling system may interact with the Orange County

Sanitation District’s sewage outfall pipe, and could play a part in beach

closures that plagued the city in 1999. The power plant also belches tons

of air pollutants, including nitrogen oxide, each year.

“We’re not looking to circumvent the permitting process,” said

Blackford, adding that AES is not only participating in the ocean

pollution studies, but planning a number of measures to reduce emissions.

“We have every intention of being a good neighbor.”

City Councilman Ralph Bauer said that the state, not AES, is the crux

of the city’s worries.

“This whole energy crisis business is not the making of Huntington

Beach, yet we have to bear the brunt of what’s needed to fix it,” he

said. “I think AES wants to be good neighbors. Our major concern is that

in the state’s headlong desire to provide enough energy this summer, it

seems to want to short-circuit the city.”

Garret Shean, the commission’s principal hearing officer, said the

state is expected to face a 5,000-megawatt deficit this summer, which

makes the energy that could be produced by AES’ inactive units a resource

in demand.

“The schedule of this [review] proceeding is moving rapidly, and we

expect action by the full commission sometime in the first week of

April,” he said.

The commission set the AES retooling plan on a 12-month review process

last month, just days before Gov. Gray Davis announced several emergency

orders to expedite the scrutiny time for new and rehabilitation projects.

The commission’s staff is now suggesting the permit process follow a

60-day schedule in response to state power needs.

“We are very concerned that any meaningful review cannot be received

in the 60-day time period,” said Malcolm Weiss, an attorney representing

the city.

Weiss added the city has issued a formal appeal on the two-month

process, and would go to court if necessary.

City officials said they need at least six months in order to

participate in the review process and go over various issues that they

hope will be addressed during the permitting period.