Redondo Seeks to Block Edison’s Use of Ammonia : Pollution: The city says air quality regulators failed to review the environmental impact before granting a permit for a power station system that is meant to reduce smog.

The city of Redondo Beach, opening a new front in its battle with Southern California Edison Co., has asked air quality regulators to withdraw a permit they issued for the construction of two 10,000-gallon anhydrous ammonia tanks at the utility’s Redondo Beach power station.

Edison officials say the ammonia, a potentially toxic substance, would be used in a pollution control system the utility needs to meet regional air quality standards. They complain city officials are unwilling to work with them to make the project acceptable to the community.

“I’m very disappointed in the action they have taken,” said Sebastian Nola, Edison’s South Bay district manager.

But the city says the permit, issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Sept. 7, is illegal because AQMD did not do an environmental impact review.

Redondo Beach also says it was never notified about Edison’s permit application, and is skeptical of the utility’s call for cooperation.

Curtis Coleman, a Los Angeles attorney representing Redondo Beach, said: “It’s easy to be magnanimous when you have the permit in your hand. The city is doing what it has to do to make sure its interests are protected.”

AQMD officials decline to discuss why they did not notify the city or do an impact study before issuing the construction permit. A hearing on the city’s request for cancellation of the permit is set for Oct. 11.

AQMD officials say their agency has long anticipated that utilities would have to use ammonia-based pollution control systems to meet air quality standards for the 1990s.

“Ammonia is used already by ice cream factories and in food refrigeration plants,” said AQMD spokesman Bill Kelly. “There is no question that the compound is not good to breathe in the event of a spill, but history has shown it has not caused major (safety) problems.”

The permit issue is one of three bones of contention between Redondo Beach and Edison. On Sept. 11, the City Council voted to prosecute Edison for excessive plant noise.

And last Thursday, the council voted to oppose Edison’s proposed merger with San Diego Gas & Electric Co. Officials fear local noise and air pollution could increase under the merger, which would result in increased power output by Edison stations in communities including Redondo Beach and El Segundo.

Edison says the ammonia-based control system would be used on one of the Redondo Beach plant’s four operating boilers to remove nitrogen oxide from flue gases.

Nitrogen oxide is a main ingredient in summertime smog, and the AQMD is requiring utilities to reduce their emissions of it by 79% by the end of 1999. According to Nola, the system is one of several the utility plans to use to meet the AQMD standard.

“In order to meet these requirements we will have to embark upon a $680 million capital investment program,” Nola said, “and the (ammonia-based) system will be an integral part.”

Coleman, the attorney representing Redondo Beach, says the city should have been notified that Edison was seeking a permit and asked to comment on the application.

In a recent written complaint to AQMD, he said that under state law, the agency should have performed a detailed environmental review of the project’s impact.

Among the questions that should be addressed are how the ammonia would be transported to the Edison plant and how area residents would be affected by a spill, the appeal said.

Anhydrous ammonia can be fatal if breathed in high concentrations. According to Paul Papanek, a toxics expert with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, a leak of the chemical can form a dangerous low-floating cloud.

“It actually burns the respiratory tract,” Papanek said Friday. “It’s every bit as worrisome as chlorine gas. . . . It’s nasty.”

City officials say that, because there are densely populated areas close to the Redondo Beach power station, the project should have been subject to special scrutiny.

“My main concern is safety,” Redondo Beach Mayor Brad Parton said Friday. “We have residents within 500 feet of that plant.”