Video: “Just Say No to the Power Plant Next to Mission Trails Park”

Watch the full video interview here

By John Minto and Jay Powell

The to consider whether to start the process to convert land located adjacent to Mission Trails Regional Park; designated as open space for over three decades into an industrial site for a proposed 100-megawatt fossil-fueled electric power plant.  This huge facility called “Quail Brush” will have eleven 100 foot tall exhaust stacks that will be visible from nearly every vantage point in .

The City of San Diego Staff recommended the Commissioners accept the report and initiate the process to convert the land.  Five of the Seven Commissioners were present to hear the issue and take action.  The Commission proposed an action in opposition to the staff recommendation, however, in order for any action to pass, four votes were required.  A vote was taken and there were three aye votes recorded.  The Commission had to .

In this instance, the Commission agreed with points brought forward by opponents, that the applicant (a power plant subsidiary of banking giant Goldman Sachs), the City staff and the California Energy Commission had not made the case that there was an overwhelming public need or benefit to justify spending City time and resources on such a radical change in land use.  

Indeed, Commissioners noted that an initiation of a community plan amendment would be tantamount to signaling support to the state Energy Commission.    As Planning Commissioner Stephen Haase noted, this is not an environmental review process that the City will have any control over whatsoever.   The Energy Commission, who’s main job is to site larger power plants such as this has its own environmental review process. 

The Energy Commission staff’s claim that their environmental review process was “CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) on steroids” was less than reassuring.   Their admission that they will probably have made their decision before the City Council would be able to complete their own consideration of a land use change coupled with the was another compelling reason cited by the Commissioners to stop this ill-advised request right now.     

Opposition from across the region to building this power plant is diverse and ranges from the Sierra Club to the , parties that don’t often show up on the same side of an issue.  But much more is at stake than next to our treasured Mission Trails park and the . This is not the only proposal to convert open space into gas-fired power plant. Just last month with barely one week notice the Mayor was proposing to put a Canadian company plant eight-times as large on City-owned open space lands also set aside for Multi Species Conservation across the mesa near University City.

This should give us all cause to stop and consider whether we need to continue using our open space land to serve a 20^th Century monopoly utility model for our power needs or look to how we can realize the proven potential of energy efficiency and renewable technologies that are now available.  

The Sierra Club “Run with the Sun” campaign has noted that there is a potential in the San Diego Region to achieve up to 7,000 megawatts – over three times the size of – from an expansion of and . The Quail Brush price tag of $150 Million will actually end up costing ratepayers more than $600 Million over a 20 year finance period and it will only create 11 permanent jobs. There are already 1,000 local jobs directly tied to the solar industry. How many more sustainable jobs and businesses would a local solar-first alternative create?

If home and apartment owners, associations and businesses can lower their utility bills, support growth of high quality sustainable jobs and businesses while moving us towards energy independence,  shouldn’t that be given our careful consideration first?  It is time to look at the economic development potential of such a regional energy alternative.

We have made a tremendous investment in the protection of our natural open spaces and quality of life in San Diego.  We want to protect and enhance that investment and move forward into the 21^st Century with sustainable energy options that improve the economics for all San Diegans, not just SDG&E and their partners, as they attempt to add more fossil-fueled electric facilities into their rate base.

We urged the rest of the Commissioners to join their colleagues in denying this request, and send this issue to the City Council.  We believe it is paramount for the local authority to hear this matter and consider the implications of converting open space into a wholly incompatible land use. We hoped they would agree and not accept these kinds of choices.  We can do better for San Diego’s environment and economy.

The Commission convened on July 19 to the General Plan amendment. 

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John Minto is a Santee City Councilmember, Chairman of the East San Diego County Economic Development Corporation and retired San Diego Police Officer where he worked with organizations providing innovative police-community partnerships.

Jay Powell is retired Executive Director of the City Heights Community Development Corporation and serves on the Sierra Club San Diego Run with the Sun campaign committee to promote energy efficiency and local solar power generation.