Utilities’ Merger Not Unhealthy, Report Says : Environment: Combining Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric wouldn’t increase cancer or other risks, new study finds.

The estimated 3,000 people who live near Ventura County’s two electric power plants will suffer no significant health risks due to the proposed merger of Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, a new report states.

Answering concerns raised by the city of Oxnard and the Ventura County Agricultural Advisory Committee, the report estimates that even with expected increased power production at both of Edison’s Ventura County power plants, the risk of cancer would be less than one in 1 million for a person who lives within a mile of the plants for 70 years.

If the merger of the two companies is approved by the Public Utilities Commission early next year, much of the power production from the San Diego area will be shifted to Ormond Beach and Mandalay Beach plants in Ventura County and Edison plants in other areas, the newly released report notes.

The increased power production would result in more emissions to the air that contribute to both health problems and air pollution, the study, a supplement to the draft environmental impact report, states.

But the emissions come from a 250-foot-high smokestack at Ormond and a smokestack about 200 feet high at Mandalay. The height of smokestacks combined with strong winds that prevail along the coast where the plants are located will disperse the emissions before they can settle on nearby residents or form heavy smog in those areas, said Gary Rubenstein, an engineer at the Sacramento firm that prepared parts of the study.

“We know the emissions are going to make ozone somewhere,” he said, referring to the gas that is the primary constituent of smog in Ventura County. “But it won’t be any specific locations near the plants.” The same is true of toxic emissions that can cause cancer in high concentrations, he said.

However, the information that Rubenstein’s firm used to make the determinations could be inaccurate, according to an official of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District and the consultant’s report.

The computer model used to predict the emissions’ reactions after they are released into the air began with inaccurate information about local weather patterns that could result in a significant underestimate of the effects of the merger, said Evan Shipp, air quality specialist at the county district.

“If you don’t have reliance on the numbers to begin with, you really can’t say if the effects are significant or not,” he said. “There’s no use in running the model.”

Shipp said further evaluations on the risk of cancer from living near the power plants are expected next year under California’s Toxics Hot Spots Act.

The consultant’s report, written to answer specific concerns about the merger voiced by cities, organizations and residents, is a supplement to a draft environmental impact report issued in April. That report found that as a result of the merger, an average of 200 tons of pollutants per year would be added to Ventura County air. In 1994, the pollutant level would peak at 700 additional tons, dropping off to 75 tons per year in 1996.

In a controversial agreement between Southern California Edison and the Air Pollution Control District, Edison agreed to a plan to offset all of the additional pollutants the merger would bring to the area over 20 years.

The agreement, similar to one Edison worked out with the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Los Angeles, called for Edison to pay for other companies in Ventura County to convert diesel and gas engines to clean electric motors. In addition, Edison will be required to install pollution reduction devices at Mandalay Beach in 1992 and at Ormond Beach in 1996, according to the agreement.

The plan would cost Edison about $7 million for all of Southern California. But opponents, including environmentalists Russ and Pat Baggerly, complained that the plan looks good on paper only. The Baggerlys argued that the proposed mitigation would still produce an increase in air pollution in the county.

As a result, the Public Utilities Commission ordered the consultant to design a new so-called “mitigation package.” Under that plan, designed to eliminate any increases in air pollution in the county if the merger is approved, Edison would have to pay $97 million to install additional pollution control devices.

The Public Utilities Commission has not indicated its position on the consultant’s report. A final environmental impact report, which will be used as a basis for the Public Utilities Commission decision on whether to approve the merger, is expected this fall.