SDG&E; Power Plant Plan Advances

The California Energy Commission on Wednesday agreed to consider San Diego Gas & Electric Co.’s proposal to build a 460-megawatt power plant at a cost of $388 million to $577 million.

Commissioners voted 4 to 0 in Sacramento to accept the utility’s voluminous application and begin a yearlong review. The proposal has already raised political objections in Carlsbad and concern in Chula Vista, two of five possible plant sites.

“The clock has started,” said Claudia Barker, assistant director for the commission.

SDG&E; says that with a 3% yearly increase in demand for energy, the proposed plant, using natural gas as its main fuel, would generate enough electricity to serve about 460,000 average residential customers in fast-growing San Diego County.

The company’s application contains more than 2,000 pages detailing environmental, economic and engineering aspects of the five prospective sites.

The sites include the Encina power plant in Carlsbad, the South Bay power plant in Chula Vista, West Sycamore Canyon east of Miramar Naval Air Station, Blythe in Riverside County and near Heber in Imperial County.

On Feb. 14, the commission rebuffed SDG&E;’s initial application and demanded more information. On Wednesday it agreed to investigate the plant’s environmental impact, whether new energy is actually needed and how ratepayers would be affected.

Word that SDG&E;’s application had been accepted was received coolly in Carlsbad, where the City Council has flatly opposed building another energy facility at the Encina site, where the existing 200-foot-high plant and 400-foot-high smokestack are a coastal landmark.

“We don’t want it,” Mayor Pro Tem Ann Kulchin said Wednesday.

Despite the commission’s action, “we’re not going to roll over and play possum. We’re going to fight as much as we can; we’ve got the responsibility to do that much,” she said.

In January, Carlsbad council members earmarked up to $300,000 for outside consultants to study how a new plant would affect the community.

Officials there have been frustrated that state law gives the energy commission authority over the matter while local cities can only request “intervenor” status allowing them to participate in the review.

So far, Carlsbad and the city of San Diego have asked to become intervenors. The Miramar site is within San Diego.

San Diego Deputy City Atty. Bill Pettingill said Wednesday that the City Council has taken no position yet on SDG&E;’s proposal, but “just wanted to make sure we’d have a chance to represent ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Chula Vista City Atty. Rich Rudolf said the commission’s acceptance of SDG&E;’s applications means his city will also request intervenor status.

The Chula Vista City Council has expressed some alarm, but has not yet taken a stand on the utility company’s plan.

SDG&E; hopes the first phase of a two-unit power plant will be completed in June, 1995, with the second phase following a year later. But SDG&E; officials have said the project could be delayed for three years if SDG&E;’s proposed merger with electricity-rich Southern California Edison Co. is approved.

According to SDG&E;, a coastal site would be less expensive, costing $388 million to $439 million, because an inland site requires new gas supply lines and electric transmission lines. An inland power plant is estimated to cost $415 million to $577 million.

The commission staff, SDG&E; and the intervenors will hold public hearings and study the application before narrowing the list of potential sites. If the commission then approves one, SDG&E; must apply for a permit to build and operate the plant. The company hopes to receive final approval in late 1992.