AES’ emission-reducing plan approved

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Residents on the city’s southeast side can look

forward to breathing cleaner air in the upcoming months.

The City Council unanimously approved a plan put forth by the AES

Corp.’s Huntington Beach power plant to install a selective catalytic

reduction system in its operational units to cut back on noxious chemical

emissions.

The system, once installed in the boiler exhaust duct of a

power-generating unit, uses ammonia to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by

about 90%, plant officials said.

Air quality regulations and standards maintained by the South Coast

Air Quality Management District require AES to reduce its polluting

emissions in energy-producing units No. 1 and No. 2.

That mandate, city officials said, was the reason the city’s planning

commission passed the project in December. At that time, Councilman Ralph

Bauer appealed the plan to learn more about the on-site use of ammonia,

which officials at the Huntington Beach Fire Department have studied to

ensure public safety.

When AES first proposed the project, plant officials thought they had

a very good plan, said Ed Blackford, site manager and president of AES’

Huntington Beach plant, adding that after working with the fire

department and even better one emerged.

A similar system is slated for use on AES’ other two units, No. 3 and

No. 4, if they are brought on line after a retooling project.

AES will also add landscaping to its site, with renditions that show

palm trees lining the plant’s outer property line, as well as other plant

life to help screen out the facility’s stark concrete and green metal

look.

Councilwoman Connie Boardman told AES officials that palm trees could

pose a threat to a nearby bird colony of endangered least terns by

providing a home for predators.

Blackford assured that AES was speaking with arborists to learn what

type of wildlife would be attracted to the trees, and palm trees are not

a final decision.

Plant officials said the project would begin immediately, and requires

shutting down both operating units until May, though electricity will

continue to flow to Huntington Beach through the state power grid.

FYI

The California Energy Commission is scheduled to visit Huntington

Beach on March 15 and 16 for further workshops and an evidentiary hearing

on the proposed AES retooling project for units No. 3 and No. 4.

A workshop is set for March 15 at 9 a.m. in the Huntington Central

Library’s Maddy Room at 7111 Talbert Avenue. An evening session will

convene at 6 p.m. that night in the council chambers of City Hall at 2000

Main St. The evidentiary hearing will begin March 16 at 10 a.m., also in the council chambers.

Information:o7

https://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/huntingtonbeachf7