In the Bayview Hunters Point we do not want any Combustion Turbines using fossil fuel

It all started when California Independent Systems Operator (CALISO) the same body that decided what is good as far as transmission and energy issues are concerned for California - was taken for a ride by corrupt folks like the Williams Company and Enron entities around the year 2000.

As a result of the 2000 Energy fiasco - the City and County of San Francisco as part of the mitigation measure - opted for 4 Combustion Turbines to be given by the Williams Company to San Francisco.

San Francisco could have opted for money but Sophie Maxwell ( a former electrician) had to open her wide mouth, put her foot inside and opt for the Combustion Turbines. The others opt out because Sophie was a Black woman and the existing power plants were in District 10 - Bayview Hunters Point. So much for the worst choice ever to be made by a person who understand next to nothing about Energy Issues - and who has done NOTING for the Bayview Hunters Point community.

Since the year 2000 they have been sitting in ware house - costing the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission - over $250,000 a year. They are fired once or twice a year - and for all practical purposed these old Combustion Turbines (CTs) - are old technology.

Paradoxically - Williams Company is in the Fossil Fuel Business - the Natural Gas business so - any way you look at this old deal - they will stand to win.

So - we now have 4 CTs that we really do not need - but Sophie Maxwell and Aaron Peskin have joined with Dennis Herrera (who lives near Potrero Hill) and some other mostly White Folks - who have taken a stand to place the CTs and get rid of Mirant Power Plant.

If the CTs are placed they will spew PM2.5 and pathogens from the water that will be used for cooling. The water as it now stands - to be used for the proposed CTs and its cooling system - is half-treated sewage or a rosy word of it - effluents.

The question is do we need the CTs? Have we looked at other options?

I have been involved with the City's Energy Issues since 1988. Around 1999-2000 - the Bay Guardian and I worked on some Energy Issues and we took a good look at Pacific Gas Electric and its dubious ploys.

A good thing about the Bay Guardian is that it has been for Public Power. But, San Francisco has no viable Business Plan and no sound Blue Print. LAFCO is all talk and no action.

This City uses about 960 MegaWatts of Electricity. We have the Jefferson-Martin Transmission Line that can bring in about 600 MagaWatts on any day. The Mirant Power Plant acts as our sole Inner City Power Plant and can provide the rest.

The Mirant plant as it stands today - a full eighty percent of it - has been retrofitted and meets some standards. It is a dirty power plant any way you look at it but more when the rest of its operation is taken into account.

The rest - the twenty percent that is operational - is very, very dirty - filthy dirty and uses very old technology. This portion of plant can take as much as 14 hours to fire up a Combustion Turbines before it can come on line. Unlike the modern CTs that can kick in within 15 minutes.

The Hunters Point power plant that belonged to Pacific Gas and Electric was deactivated or shut down some years ago. But, what most folks do not know - it that Mirant Power Plant once belonged to Pacific Gas and Electric and they sold it to Mirant Power Plant. Think about this deal.

After the Mirant deal was done - the State of California gave some $13.6 million as mitigation fees to the City and County of San Francisco.

It is with this money - that should have be used for the - victims of Bayview and the neighboring areas - that the SF Department of Environment DOE) was created. The SF DOE does not take money from the General Fund but has grown with this capitol as its base.

Millions of mitigation money was doled out by Sophie Maxwell. Olin Webb and Karen Pierce who testified at the Budget and Finance Committee - May 5, 2008 received $1.5 million. Others too - you can request the list under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Sophie Maxwell gave Enola Middle School over $900,000 - the school named after her mother - find out how this money was spent?

If these acts are not corruption - I do not know what is.

So the City needs 960 MegaWatts and with the Jefferson-Martin Transmission Line and the Mirant Power Plant - meet the SF Citys's energy need throughout the year.

When we have a Peak in energy consumption - we have to import power. And this we can do now and do in the future - mostly through the Jefferson-Martin line - in the future the Pittsburg-Potrero Transmission Line will be in place.

Missing in the discussion is that San Francisco has access to Hetch Hetchy Power. We should consume all of it. But, we do not. We sell this hydroelectric power to Tulare.

Most San Franciscans do not even bother to understand why we do this. I know the Bay Guardian does, talks about the Raiker Act and so on and so forth. Has been for years.

Pacific Gas and Electric completed the last miles of Transmission Lines and took over the power from Hetch Hetchy from San Francisco. San Francisco should have completed the Transmission Line - from Hetch Hetchy to San Francisco and in doing so would be in the cockpit.

But, we have this habit of doing things - ass backwards. Today, it is coming to bite us in the butt.
Of course Sophie Maxwell and Gavin Newsom love this drama - they make money on the side - while San Franciscans suffer.

In a few years an under the bay Transmission Line will be laid - from Pittsburg to Potrero. It will bring about 400 MegaWatts of power. Sufficient for us to use some and for the owner of the power to sell a lot. It will be in place by 2010.

Technologically - speaking there must be some Inner City Power Plant to have a better circulation of Energy. The single point Transmission Lines are vulnerable - in the South the Jefferson-Martin Transmission Line - from the North the Pittsburg-Potrero line.

We must decide and should have decided a long time ago - about Public Power and how to empower San Francisco.

But, Power makes people Corrupt. The Bay Guardian will tell you that - Pacific Gas and Electric took them to the Cleaners. Thank God they won against the SF Weekly recently to wash away the memories from the past. I have not made that call - if they have been compensated. You may win - but when it comes to payment it takes - years.

In between Sophie Maxwell took part in the submerged conduits that were to bring in Transmission Lines - the project under Islais Creek in fact next to the new bridge - by Marin Street at Illinois Street. $20 million wasted on the compromised conduits. Few people know about this. What a scandal.

So, we still have not made up our mind. Do we need Combustion Turbines to be built on land that is prone to liquefaction by Pier 80. This Public Trust Land and the Burton Act and the Public Trust Act - mandates - Maritime Uses.

So, when has Generating Power become a Maritime Use? What about the Liquefaction? Who about Global Warming? What about the Carbon Foot Print and newer standards about Carbon Emission?
Aaron Peskin and Sophie Maxwell - cannot answer these questions.

More about Cumulative Pollution. Of course they will not touch the Precautionary Principle?

It will cost the City about $300 million and we do not have the money.

Can we shut fifty percent of Mirant Power Plant - the dirtiest portions - and wait until 2010 when the Pittsburg-Potrero Transmission Line is in place? Some think so.

Can we place three Combustion Turbines closer to the Airport where they can be configured to work well - and can get approval?

CAISO is a dubious entity - it speaks with a forked tongue - the Enron Scandal and other fiascoes have made many think to watch out this non-profit entity - that works for the Owners that own Energy Companies. The laymen thinks they are a real Regulatory Agency - they are not.

If anyone sues them with the facts - they can be brought to their knees.

Much like if Sophie Maxwell and Aaron Peskin are sued and facts are revealed about the Close Door sessions - and the dubious ploys these two have concocted during the last few years.

Backed up the Power Plant Task Force and folks like Joe Boss and Karen Pierce. The City Attorney Dennis Herrera and others that live on Potrero Hill.

The constituents that live in the Bayview Hunters Point - have been taken for a ride by Sophie Maxwell who has used every opportunity to line her pockets.

Espanola Jackso a long time resident of Bayview Hunters Point - who has lived in the area for over 45 years - says that she is against the Peakers. She - more over is determined to sue those placing these CTs anywhere close to where she lives.

Time will tell.

Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy