Before the recent energy crisis hit California, a group of Texas politicians examined the energy market that was to be brought about through deregulation. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, one politician said, "it took us about 15 minutes drawing on a napkin. . .to figure out how to game (the new market)."
The deregulation scheme made a lot of nasty things happen alarmingly fast. It took only weeks for energy supplier lobbyists and obliging politicians to craft the legislation that made it so easy to exploit California’s energy market. It took the energy cartel only six months to drain more than 20 billion dollars out of California and threaten the stability of the seventh largest economy in the world. Now, it may take only a couple years for energy suppliers to leave California with a legacy of dependence and pollution that could last for decades.
Governor Gray Davis, in an effort to address an apparent energy supply shortage, has greased the wheels to get the same energy suppliers that have been gouging ratepayers to build more fossil fuel-burning power plants in our state, with minimal regard for air quality. In San Diego alone, eight 40-100 megawatt plants will be built in the county within the next six months.
In March, radio talk-show host Roger Hedgecock and County Supervisor Bill Horn proposed reactivating the Silver Gate power plant in Barrio Logan. When the plant’s 50-year-old turbines were last permitted in the 1980s, the plant produced 25 times more pollution than would be allowed for a new power plant. The impacts of emissions on the health of residents just two blocks away are potentially disastrous.
In addition, many local power plants have been granted waivers or "variances" from pollution limits. Dirtier units that normally operated only at peak demand times will run constantly. Due to limited supplies of natural gas in this region, many of our power plants will burn diesel fuel oil to produce electricity. This scenario means seriously compromised air quality in San Diego.
These kinds of strategies will deepen our dependence on the very profiteers who have drained staggering amounts of wealth from our city and state. They also will ensure that Californians are stuck with polluting 20th century energy technologies well into the 21st century.
The public must demand that elected officials implement a plan that reduces energy demand and develops renewable generation capacity to the maximum extent feasible. We should be pursuing conservation and renewables more—not less—aggressively than we are pursuing fossil fuel-burning plants.
Conservation alone will not provide the reliable and clean energy future that San Diego and the rest of the state needs. California has a supply shortage of clean, renewable energy. Even the cleanest natural gas-burning power plants create hazardous smog and soot, and emit carbon dioxide that contributes to the perils of global climate change.
Nuclear energy is not a clean energy option either. Nuclear plants create radioactive waste that stays with us for 10,000 years. There is no approved disposal plan for waste in any country; therefore most spent fuel from nuclear power plants is kept in holding tanks at the plant.
Solar power production seems to make the most sense but with the onset of the energy crisis, solar power companies have been unable to keep pace with demand and they have been wary of building new generation capacity, fearing that the increase in demand is temporary and may fade with the rush of new fossil fuel-burning generation.
Mayor Dick Murphy has said he has a vision for a "Solar San Diego". What better place to lead the state and the world in solar power production? EHC supports a municipal or regional plan that maximizes the use of solar power giving solar generators the assured demand they need to invest in increased production.
Crisis is defined as a time of great danger or trouble, or as a turning point. The definition that best describes the current energy crisis will be determined by whether or not California maintains its dependence on an energy cartel bent on maximizing profits on the backs of consumers and the environment, or seizes the opportunity of a turning point in its energy future. Our children will thank us if we choose the latter definition.