Redondo Residents Blast Edison Plan to Control Pollution

Modern pollution-control equipment that Southern California Edison wants to install at its Redondo Beach power plant drew fire Tuesday night from residents and some council members who fear that the ammonia it would use to neutralize pollutants could pose severe health risks.

Its opponents cited that safety issue Tuesday as yet another reason to oppose the proposed merger between Edison and the San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

The council last week decided to prosecute Edison for allegedly violating the local noise ordinance. Although the council was to take a position on the controversial merger Tuesday night, it postponed making a decision until next Tuesday, when it expects to have more information about how the merger would affect the area’s level of noise and its marine life.

The merger, which would result in the shifting of electricity generation from older San Diego power plants to more efficient Edison stations in Redondo Beach and El Segundo, among other cities, is being opposed by many residents who say it would mean more air and noise pollution in South Bay cities.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has approved the merger, saying overall air quality would not suffer in the Los Angeles Basin because stationary diesel and gas engines could be replaced by electrical power.

The issue is now before the California Public Utilities Commission.

The four-hour hearing in Redondo Beach Tuesday was dominated by concern about the safety of the pollution-fighting method that Edison wants to use in the city. The process requires the power plant to store 20,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia, a toxic form of the household agent that can cause burns or suffocation.

Edison has already received permits from the AQMD to install the equipment, but has not yet received a city building permit to begin construction on the ammonia storage tanks.

The equipment operates in a manner similar to a catalytic converter in a car by mixing ammonia with noxious power plant emissions to break them down into harmless compounds, said Edison’s environmental regulation manager, Nader Mansour.

Edison District Manager Sebastian Nola assured the council that the equipment would be operated in accordance with all federal and state requirements regarding the handling of hazardous materials.

The ammonia method, which was developed in Germany but has never been used in the United States, is the only pollution-fighting equipment that will allow the utility to meet air quality requirements, he said.

But several residents said they are concerned about the possible health risks associated with the transportation and storage of anhydrous ammonia and criticized the utility for not considering safer anti-pollution methods.

Redondo Beach resident Tom O’Leary, 75, a retired management analyst who has lobbied the council for years to crack down on pollution from the utility, said the company should not be experimenting with such a novel process in a populated area such as Redondo Beach.

“This is the first step in making Redondo Beach a utilities industry guinea pig,” O’Leary said.

Another resident, Gloria Gould, who lives with her husband in a new condominium complex near the power plant, said: “If it (ammonia) were to escape into the atmosphere, and given our proximity to the plant, I am really worried that we and our neighbors would be the first to be affected by it and harmed by it and possibly . . . to die from it.”

Added William Benko, who also lives near the station: “I’m 500 feet from where the unit would be, and I’m just hoping I can outrun the ammonia cloud.”

Regardless of the merger, the AQMD has required Edison to fit all its power generators with some kind of pollution-fighting equipment and to slash by 77% its air pollution in the Los Angeles Basin by the year 2000.

The council, however, decided to postpone a decision on granting a building permit for the time being and met with its lawyer to discuss Edison’s request.

Under the merger, the Redondo Beach plant would supply about 16% more power over the next 10 years, and El Segundo’s production would increase by about 44%, according to Edison officials.