Peaker Plant Fallout 

By Supervisor Pat Bates
Ladera Times

During a time of year when people would have preferred to focus their attention on family, poinsettias, and braving crowded malls for that last minute gift, residents of Ladera Ranch were asked to add a heavily-weighted set of concerns to their 2007 holiday list. I am speaking of the passionate plea I received from local residents at the December 19 Town Hall, imploring me to step in and assist them in getting information on the potential community impacts of the peaker plant proposed to be built on Antonio Parkway.

I made a commitment to the more than 500 residents in attendance that night. That commitment was to provide residents of Ladera Ranch and neighboring communities with as much time as necessary to re-engage in the process from which they felt excluded. My greatest level of concern arises from the sheer number of residents who appear to have been left out of a process intended to solicit community feedback. In my more than 20 years of public service, both in the California Assembly and at the local level, I have never seen this many people left in the dark about a project at such a late stage.  This lack of public knowledge about a major project is what inspires me to advocate on the community's behalf.  Since I met with residents at Ladera Ranch Elementary School on December 19, I have taken the following steps:

" Requested and received a commitment from SDG&E to delay construction from early January until a date yet to be determined in February, 2008.

" Directed County Planning staff not to issue the final permits necessary for SDG&E/Wellhead (the project proponents) to construct the peaker facility until the proponents have received all their required permits from outside regulatory agencies such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) unless legally compelled otherwise.

" Sent a letter to the South Coast AQMD and their Executive Officer, Dr. Barry Wallerstein with a formal request on behalf of local residents that South Coast AQMD perform a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the air quality impacts associated with the proposed peaker facility.

" Sent a letter to Debra Reed, President and CEO of SDG&E with a formal request on behalf of the residents of Ladera Ranch urging that SDG&E strongly consider relocation of the peaker facility to a new and more suitable location (non-residential and away from Ladera Ranch).

As I stated at the Town Hall, I am fully committed to working on behalf of the residents of Ladera Ranch and neighboring communities to achieve their goals. I will continue to stay fully engaged and do not view these actions as an end, but rather as a beginning. Finally, I have always been a proponent of transparency in government and ensuring that citizens both understand and are aware of the decisions that impact their daily lives. Transparency did not occur in this process which forces me to take a stand for the residents of Ladera Ranch to have their day and to be heard.