Group to Pull Plug on Power Plants?

Sep 17 - Oakland Tribune

TRACY -- Opponents who have fought plans for two power plants between Tracy and Livermore are petitioning the state's highest court to nullify the California Energy Commission's approval of the 1,100-megawatt Tesla Power Project.

Tracy businessman Bob Sarvey and the group Californians for Renewable Energy Inc. have opposed FPL Energy's Tesla plant and a similar power plant proposed by Calpine Corp., saying they would add to the San Joaquin Valley's air pollution problems.

Both plants have the approval of the Energy Commission, which said the latest emissions controls and air pollution reduction programs would protect neighboring residents.

The California Supreme Court declined a petition by Sarvey and CARE to review the Energy Commission's decision in the Calpine case.

"Our whole focus was to convince the California Energy Commission that our air quality is poor and that two massive power plants was a very bad idea," Sarvey said. "The Supreme Court was not responsive to those issues."

Sarvey said the latest petition, filed Thursday, will argue that FPL Energy's Tesla Power Project violates Alameda County's growth control initiative, Measure D.

After it was approved by voters in November 2000, Measure D tightened urban growth boundaries in eastern Alameda County and took away much of the county's authority to approve housing developments.

Measure D does not prohibit the construction of certain facilities needed to serve local populations -- including hospitals, research facilities and jails. But its authors testified before the Energy Commission that Measure D was intended to block the construction of power plants serving regional, rather than local, needs.

One megawatt of generating capacity is enough to supply 750 to 1,000 homes, so each plant is expected to be capable of powering 1 million homes.

"This is a matter of law," Sarvey said. "The initiative spells out clearly that this project shouldn't be here, and the voters of Alameda County passed it overwhelmingly."

Officials with FPL Energy and the California Energy Commission said they had not seen the petition and couldn't comment.

But during Energy Commission hearings, Alameda County officials said Measure D did not apply to the power plant. Energy Commission officials deferred to the county.

In licensing the Tesla plant, the Energy Commission ruled that "Alameda County's interpretation is credible, since the project can be viewed as infrastructure necessary to meet electricity needs in the county. ... We have neither jurisdiction nor good cause to second-guess the official action of the county Board of Supervisors in this case."

The Board of Supervisors ruled that although 59 acres of grazing land would be lost if the plant is built, the loss would be made up for by a 100-acre agricultural easement on land next to the plant, and more than $1 million in grants to acquire open space and promote agriculture in Alameda County.