State energy needs clash with environmental concerns
http://www.latimes.com/tcn/ontario/news/la-iv0017432oct05.story

Air-quality groups closely monitor potential that power plants approved or planned in the InlandEmpire will pollute.

Source: LA TIMES David Hermann / david.hermann@latimes.com

October 5 2001

California's energy crisis became a reality for most Inland Empire residents in March when the first rolling blackouts darkened streets, homes and businesses.

Now the Inland Empire, like other areas across the state, is providing locations for what is hoped will be the solution to California's energy crunch: new power
plants.

Four new Inland Empire plants have been approved by the California Energy Commission and three more are under consideration by state and local agencies. The
power plants that have already been approved are expected to add 1,316 megawatts to the state energy grid. When the three proposed plants are added in, the
total number of megawatts that would be generated by new Inland Empire plants climbs to 2,496 or enough energy to power nearly 2.5 million homes.

In a state where the daily demand for electricity is usually about 40,000 megawatts, the energy generated by the new Inland Empire plants will bring substantial relief
to an overtaxed power grid. But some environmentalists fear all that power will come at a price -- an increase in air pollution in a region that already endures some of
the worst smog in the nation.

"I think people have a right to be concerned about these new power plants and whether they are going to increase air pollution and health risks," said Kevin Finney
of the Coalition for Clean Air.

Finney said the coalition has been concerned about the state's rush to bring new power plants online without the level of environmental review that such projects
received in the past.

The California Energy Commission has approved new power plants in Chino, Colton and San Bernardino and additional plants are under consideration in Chino,
Corona, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Riverside County.

Finney said the Inland Valley could see its air quality deteriorate if all of those new plants are built, adding that sometimes power plants don't operate with required
emission controls.

He said the state should encourage projects that use clean, renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power.

In some cases, the coalition and other environmental organizations have fought power plant permits when developers were unable to show that the proper emission
controls would be in place before the plant began operating.

The 180-megawatt Pegasus power plant in Chino is an example.

Approved by the commission in June to begin operating on a 12-acre site at the California Institution for Men, Pegasus is one of 11 so-called peaker projects --
power plants approved on an emergency basis to meet the state's energy needs during peak hours.

Because they were intended to deal with a power emergency, all of the peaker plants were exempted from review under the California Environmental Quality Act
and were supposed to be up and running by Sept. 30.

But construction on Pegasus has barely started, in part because environmental groups fought the efforts by Pegasus' developer, New Jersey-based Delta Power, to
begin operating without equipment that would reduce its emission of nitrogen dioxide. The chemical can cause eye, nose and throat irritation as well as impaired lung
function and respiratory infections.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board denied Delta's petition to operate without the pollution controls and now the company is negotiating with
the state to take over the plant.

Delta President Dean Vanech said his company had simply sought a 30-day variance on the AQMD's pollution requirements until the proper emission control
equipment could be delivered to the plant. Now, he said, the plant will probably not open until next year.

"Our desire is to have the plant up and running by early summer so it's available to meet peaking needs next year," Vanech said.

Gail Ruderman Feuer, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that although her organization fought against Pegasus, it is not opposed to
more power plants.

"The real question is, are they clean or are they dirty," she said. "The reason we opposed the Pegasus plant is because it was being proposed without controls. That
was a clear victory because now they'll put in controls before they turn the plant on."

Barry Wallerstein, the AQMD's executive officer, said the district is requiring every new power plant to have the best available pollution controls, a condition that
makes the new plants much cleaner than existing ones.

Wallerstein said federal law also requires new plants to have emission offsets, a system whereby a potential polluter cannot increase emissions without paying money
to secure a corresponding decrease in air pollution from another facility somewhere else in the district.

"If you look at the region overall, that means there will be no net increase in emissions," Wallerstein said.

But Feuer said the offset program does not always reduce air pollution locally.

"The problem with the credit system is that the credits can come from a reduction in air pollution 100 miles away," Feuer said. "If a company wants to buy a credit in
the Inland Empire they can buy a credit in Santa Monica. That's not going to help someone in Riverside."

She said the program's effectiveness has been further reduced with the peaker plants, including Pegasus in Chino and Alliance's 40-megawatt Century and Drews
plants in Colton, because Gov. Gray Davis and the AQMD have allowed energy companies to pay into a fund to buy credits when they become available instead of
insisting that the credits already be in place when the plant begins operating.

"You pay your money today and start polluting today, but the actual reductions in emissions may not come until a year from now," she said.

Feuer said power plants with the best emission controls are still a source of PM10 -- dangerous tiny dust particles less than 10 microns in diameter that can be easily
inhaled into the lungs (one micron is a thousandth of a millimeter).

Studies have linked PM10 to respiratory illness, heart attacks and premature death. The Inland Valley has some of the highest PM10 levels in the nation.

"We support having new power, but there is an important question of where the plants are located," Feuer said. "If you put a power plant, even a clean one, across
the street from homes, they will be impacted."

Feuer said power plants should be placed in industrial areas where their emissions will have less impact on those most vulnerable to air pollution, children and the
elderly.