Deal Made City Feel Powerless

AES Corp. will fire up two power-generating units in Huntington Beach next month, and though many residents are angry about that, city officials said Monday they cut the best deal they could.

“For being undermined every step of the way by the agencies and the governor and everyone, . . . it was the best we can do,” Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “I don’t think there was anything that would have held up the start-up of this plant. They have a lot of friends in high places.”

The city, AES and the South Coast Air Quality Management District worked out final details late Friday to let the company restart two gas-fired generators that have been idle since 1995. Two other generators at the site already are running.

Huntington Beach fought many aspects of the project, which got fast-track state approval earlier this year when a summer energy crisis seemed inevitable. City officials won a handful of concessions, including independent air-quality monitoring and less use of a noisy, high-emission unit called a peaker.

Ed Blackford, president of AES Huntington Beach LLC, said of the settlement, reached Friday night after weeks of negotiating, “It removes obstacles. It puts issues to rest. Hopefully, we’re all on the same page.”

Topper Horack, who lives half a mile from the plant, said the peaker should not run at all because it emits a yellow haze that blankets southeast Huntington Beach, an area with an elementary school, high school and public park.

Horack said he also is skeptical that AES and Blackford will keep a settlement promise to use the peaker only if a power blackout is imminent and only until Oct. 1, 2002, if it is not upgraded to meet the latest air-quality standards.

“Do I believe much of what AES and Blackford say? No. Period,” Horack said. “They’ve made a lot of promises. As soon as they get assurances, then they turn around.”

For example, he said, the company said it would sell electricity from the retooled generators only in California but later reneged.

Because the state now has an electricity surplus, there is no justification for restarting the two 40-year-old generators, Horack said. AES, which in December paid a $17-million fine for pollution from its Long Beach plant, should rebuild its Huntington Beach plant using state-of-the-art technology, he said.

Huntington Beach residents have long argued against restarting the two units and appealed to the California Energy Commission. City officials unsuccessfully sought greater concessions, including $14 million to make up for potential damage to the environmental.

City officials also appealed a key air-quality permit, issued by the AQMD in May, but backed off after winning concessions from AES.

The two generators will add 450 megawatts of power to the state’s energy grid, enough power to supply 450,000 homes. The peaker--powered by eight jet engines--will be available to generate an additional 133 megawatts in case of emergency. Gov. Gray Davis pushed to get more megawatts online in anticipation of a statewide energy crunch and blackouts that never happened this summer. The two existing units provide 430 megawatts of power.

AES also agreed to:

* Give the city $50,000 for independent air-pollution monitoring at the plant.

* Install air-quality monitoring equipment within 30 days of restarting the generators.

* Sell power to Huntington Beach businesses at a discount. Though that offer is stated in the settlement with the city, it is being made to big electricity users across Southern California.

The state energy commission earlier this year required AES to spend $2.5 million to monitor how many fish are killed by the plant’s seawater-fed cooling system, and $1 million to research whether the system is contributing to coastal water pollution.

The company has agreed to install pollution-control devices that will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide from the plant to levels below last year’s, even as energy production is increasing, according to data from the AQMD.

Output of organic gases and sulfur oxides will increase slightly. Dust and soot emissions will more than double to 15 tons a year. Medical studies have shown a link between elevated levels of soot that lodges in the lungs and deaths of people with respiratory or heart disease.

A public hearing today on emissions and the city’s appeal of the air-quality permit was canceled when the settlement was announced.

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AES Power Plant Emissions

AES Huntington Beach power plant

Air Quality officials say new pollution control devices will cut most power plant emissions, even though the energy output will increase from 430 megawatts from the existing two units to 880 megawatts with four operating generators. Expected annual emission levels when all four power units are online:

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Current (2 units) Projected (4 units) Percent Pollutant Tons per year Tons per year Change Nitrogen oxides 439 130 -70% Carbon monoxide 91 81 -12% Organic gases 15 16 7% Dust 2 15 +150 Sulfur oxides 3 11 267% Amonia - 63 N/AX

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Source: AQMD