|
 |
|
|
|
What A Difference A Year Makes: Silicon Valley Power Plant Approved |
|
|
|
Written On: September 28, 2001 |
|
|
|
This time last year it looked like the 600-megawatt Metcalf power plant in California was dead. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzalez, the city council, and Cisco Systems joined forces to kill the project – and it looked like they had.
But in late September, the California Energy Commission approved the project, and guess who lined up to support it? Gov. Gray Davis; the California legislature; the American Lung Association; and the local chapter of the Sierra Club.
If you think that same cast would have lined up to support the project last year, think again. But blackouts and skyrocketing electricity costs finally sank into the West Coast mindset last winter. Chances are, without the power crisis, the Metcalf project would still be sitting on the energy commission’s bookcase gathering dust.
What a difference a year makes.
The Metcalf project has many of the same characteristics as Washington’s Sumas power plant north of Bellingham near the Canadian border. Both plants have local opposition, but the Sumas generating project is still under review by Washington’s Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), where it has been for years.
Just as California’s governor jumped on board to support the Metcalf project, Washington Governor Gary Locke should do the same for Sumas.
It’s just possible that the American Lung Association supported Metcalf because the alternatives generate far greater health risks. The same is true for Sumas. For example, the 40 one-megawatt diesel portable generators that Georgia Pacific rolled into its Bellingham pulp and paper mill just to supply it with electricity spewed far more air pollutants than the proposed Sumas project.
The one fact that hasn’t changed since last year is the electricity shortage in the West is real. Fortunately, in California the dose of reality that hit last year forced folks to look at the alternatives. Elected officials in California made a wise choice for public health, clear air, and the environment.
Hopefully, EFSEC in Washington will follow suit.
|
|
|
|
