Hayward residents promise to fight plant

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, May 22, 2007 | by Matt O'Brien

HAYWARD -- Dissatisfied by the findings of the region's air quality protection district, opponents of a proposed Hayward power plant say they will fight the project to the end -- regardless of whether regulators determine if it is OK or not.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has found that plans to build a 115-megawatt gas-fired power plant, named Eastshore Energy Center, are likely to comply with "all" regional environmental rules and regulations.

Texas-based Tierra Energy's plant is still expected to produce more pollutants than what is technically allowed, but the company can offset that excess pollution by buying credits to reduce pollution elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Because ozone creation, and resultant smog, is a regional phenomenon, the district says using a credit system to control regionwide pollution based on federal and state laws makes sense.

Residents, however, have criticized the report for not taking into account Eastshore's location in highly populated Hayward and the sharp increase in local pollution that is expected if Eastshore and another proposed west Hayward plant, the 600-megawatt Russell City Energy Center, open for business.

Opponents also have criticized the air quality district for relying too heavily on untested data provided by Tierra and the Finnish company Wartsila that will manufacture the plant's 14 reciprocating engines.

"Wartsila obviously stands to make a huge profit on the sale of these engines and is clearly not an unbiased party in the process," wrote Hayward resident Kim Finn in a letter of opposition to the district's report. "Their self-determined emissions data should not be used without comparing them to sufficient independently gathered data."

Both plants would serve the Pacific Gas & Electric power grid. The California Energy Commission is in the process of reviewing both projects and has ultimate authority in deciding whether they are built.

Even with credits, the district said, the Eastshore plant would not be able to exceed annual emissions of about 54 tons of nitrogen oxides, 84 tons of carbon monoxide, 64 tons of particulate matter, 76 tons of precursor organic compounds (POC) and six tons of sulfur dioxide per year.

The company would be able to use POC credits to offset both POC and nitrogen oxide emissions, each of which contributes to ozone formation.

The public can send comments on the report -- which is preliminary -- until June 1 to Brian Lusher, an air quality engineer with BAAQMD, 939 Ellis St., San Francisco, 94109, or e-mail blusher@baaqmd.gov. The document can be obtained by calling (916) 654-5076 or visiting http://www.baaqmd.gov.

The California Energy Commission is also hosting an upcoming meeting on the project this week, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, to obtain more information and resolve issues with the developer and other parties. That meeting will be held at City Hall, Room 2A, 777 B St.