California IN BRIEF : VISALIA : Moratorium Sought on Power Plants

A coalition of major Kern County growers and grass-roots environmentalists, worried about public health and declining crop yield, has asked the state Air Resources Board to impose a moratorium on any new power-producing cogeneration plants in the San Joaquin Valley. Marcie Williams, head of the Visalia-based Citizens for a Healthy Environment, said the plants are “unnecessarily polluting our air because we don’t need the energy. The smog is already harming our health.” More than 50 cogeneration plants, burning everything from agricultural wastes to fossil fuels, are now in operation in the valley, and dozens more have been proposed. A bitterly opposed coal-burning power plant is near completion in Kings County and two more are proposed for Fresno County.