Announcement of Pow-Wow in the Daily Breeze...
Desalination
plant forum set
A forum for local residents interested in a proposed
seawater desalination plant at the AES power plant in Redondo Beach will be
held Sept. 14 at the Veterans Park Community Center.
Sponsored by The
South Bay Parkland Conservancy, the event will feature experts on the many
issues surrounding ocean-water desalting.
The West Basin Municipal
Water District, which wants to build the demonstration desalter at AES, will
be represented at the forum.
Also on hand will be Heal the Bay,
Surfrider Foundation and the Santa Monica Baykeeper.
The event is
scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m., at the center -- the former library building --
at 309 The Esplanade.
Parking is available in the metered lot or in the
nearby Redondo Beach pier parking structure.
Call the conservancy at
310-809-4405 for more information.
Followup of the Pow-Wow in the September 16 Daily Breeze...
Water district eyes temporary site in Redondo Beach Bid
for the use of AES plant for
desalting until El Segundo location is available made at meeting. Many
are skeptical.
By Kristin S. Agostoni - September 16, 2006, DAILY
BREEZE
The West Basin Municipal Water District wants to tap
Redondo Beach's AES power plant for a short-term seawater-desalting
project, operating for three to five years until a permanent home is
found in El Segundo, an agency official said this week. Assistant
General Manager Paul Shoenberger told a group gathered Thursday in
Redondo Beach that the plant would not disturb neighbors with noise or
odors, and the idea would be "we pack up and we leave" after the time
lapsed. Shoenberger said West Basin has a contract with Metropolitan
Water District, its water wholesaler, to locate the permanent desalter
at the El Segundo Power plant. "It's going to be temporary. And
then we will bring this to our board for (opening) a full facility,"
Shoenberger said. "It really takes 10 to 15 years to get something like
this studied, permitted." But several residents and civic leaders
who turned out to Thursday's "Desal Powwow" told Shoenberger and other
panelists that if the demonstration plant is approved, they aren't
convinced the agency will only want to do the demonstration project at
AES and then walk away. The city has long sought to eliminate industrial
uses along its waterfront, and residents voted last March to turn the
AES site into a large park. While no one believed that would happen
overnight, considering the cost of the land and AES' long-term contract
to produce power for the Williams Co., some residents have complained a
seawater-desalting facility would only reinforce the site's future as an
industrial zone. "What's the chance you'll come back in three to five
years and propose a full-scale plant?" resident Jim Light asked.
"To say that, 'We have a contract with (the Metropolitan Water
District) to put it in El Segundo,' while that's true, who knows what's
going to happen?" City Councilman John Parsons added. "That's one of the
things that really concerns me." Although West Basin already
operates a small demonstration seawater-desalting plant at El Segundo
Power, agency officials said they're targeting AES for a larger testing
facility because El Segundo is squeezed for space. The Vista del
Mar plant, which is owned by NRG Energy, won approval in Dec. 2004 to
tear down and replace two of its four generating units, a project that
would require the use of the whole site, El Segundo Power Secretary
David Lloyd said Friday. He said a full-scale desalting facility is
"always a possibility ... because there is an intake and outtake
system," but that the plant has made no "permanent arrangements" for a
unit.
The city of El
Segundo, meanwhile, has hired a consultant to study what it would take
for the city to rezone El Segundo Power's land for a luxury hotel in the
event that the plant doesn't receive a new long-term contract that would
finance its renovation. "If the property owner wants to continue to
generate power, fine," said El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell. "If they
don't and can't, we need to find a new revenue source." McDowell
said city officials believe a waterfront hotel would have the least
impact on residents while generating significant bed tax revenues.
Although the West Basin Municipal Water District intended for its board
to approve a lease agreement in July for the AES site, a surprised
contingent of Redondo Beach leaders urged the board to pull the item
from its agenda. City officials complained that they learned of the plan
just one day before the board was to consider it and had little time to
understand the details. "We should have done more outreach,"
Shoenberger said Thursday. "I think we need have some more discussions
before we take it back to the
board."