September 2011
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IN THIS ISSUE...
From The Editor
Change is coming to the South Bay waterfront. But are the proposed changes the best we can do? In this issue, one current and one past member of the PV-SB Conservation Committee weigh in.
The South Bay Bicycle Master Plan, which recommends additions and improvements to the bicycle routes in the area, has been released for comment. Is it the best we can do?
Dean Francois asks the question in “The South Bay Bicycle Master Plan: Is It the Route We Want to Take?”
The AES Corporation has filed a plan with the State of California to build a new power plant to replace the existing one in Redondo Beach. Separately, the West Basin Municipal Water District, our local water agency, will soon release plans to add a desalination plant at the AES site. Is re-industrialization of the site the best we can do?
Read about potential impacts of these projects and possible alternatives in Bill Brand’s submission, “Let’s Change Our Waterfront for the Better.”
If you’d like to make a positive impact in your community, join the PV-SB Group’s Conservation Committee. Contact Dave Wiggins, Chair.
Let’s Change Our Waterfront for the Better - by Bill Brand
AES Corporation plans to retire the existing power plant on Harbor Drive in Redondo Beach. This affords South Bay residents a once in a generation opportunity. Rather than re-industrializing the site, a beautiful public facility could be built incorporating a variety of uses that would benefit residents, visitors, businesses, and the entire South Bay, leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come.
Although AES has filed plans with the State of California to build a replacement power plant on the site, residents are working to stop these plans.
Neither the South Bay nor the State of California needs the proposed new power plant. The existing elderly plant rarely operates. In any given year it is shut down for months at a time. It is not a reliability-must-run facility as it was years ago. In fact, according to a California Energy Commission report, in 2008 the AES Redondo plant only generated 1/10th of one percent of all the power generated in California and operated at less than 5% of capacity.
Californians should strive to wean ourselves from fossil fuels by maximizing our use of renewable energy. If a big, expensive, new fossil-fueled generating plant like this is built, the owners will expect to run it for decades before retiring it, committing California to more non-renewable energy generation. There are alternatives.
The Sierra Club has recently partnered with solar energy installer SunRun to offer discounted rooftop solar energy installation to its members. More information is available here.
In addition, the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter is partnering with Energy Upgrade California to help facilitate energy conservation upgrades of homes.
Other communities have had some success working with agencies to stop the kind of re-industrialization AES proposes. Two power plants in San Francisco and one in Chula Vista were recently decommissioned due to citizen activism. Other communities throughout the world, and even recently here in California, have phased out industrial uses in what had become densely populated areas. They’ve created areas for the public instead: Chrissy Fields in San Francisco and the new Wilmington Waterfront Park—both former industrial sites that are now cherished community assets.
If you are interested in learning more, join the “Tear Down Redondo’s Power Plant” Facebook page. To voice your objection to repowering the AES plant, write to the State Commissioners at the addresses below.
California Energy Commission
Commissioner Karen Douglas
Siting Committee
1516 Ninth Street MS-31
Sacramento, CA 95814
California Energy Commission
Commissioner Robert Weisenmiller
Siting Committee
1516 Ninth Street MS-33
Sacramento, CA 95814
Bill Brand is a Redondo Beach City Council Member and past member of the Sierra Club PV-SB Conservation Committee. He can be contacted at bbrand@earthlink.net
South Bay Bicycle Master Plan: Is It the Route We Want to Take? - By Dean Francois
The South Bay Bicycle Masterplan Initiative is well underway. Charged with developing a plan of bicycle paths, bike lanes and signed routes on the streets of seven South Bay cities in an effort to encourage more people to use the bicycle for transportation, the Initiative’s draft proposal has been released seeking public comment. At the time of this publication, the Master Plan will be in the final stages of various South Bay city commissions and city council approvals. Eventually, upon approval by the various city councils, the cities will be in a position to apply for funding for implementation.
For years, efforts have been made to improve bicycle routes in the South Bay. We all want to encourage more alternative transportation, including bicycle commuting. The “Friends of the South Bay Bicycle Path” was formed years ago to improve bike paths. One of the key components sought by that group, however, is not included in the draft Plan: a bike path through King Harbor that would encourage bicycle commuting by linking to businesses.
Instead, the South Bay Master Plan links the Hermosa Strand to the Redondo Beach Pier with a bike path going in both directions on one side of Harbor Drive. This proposed path, which is inconsistent with the California Highway Manual, would result in confusing, lengthy traffic stops as two directions of traffic go through three intersections within a half mile of each other on one side of the street. It will be costly and raises safety concerns.
An alternative is a two-phase approach to this bike route: In the short term, the Plan’s recommended improvements for the end of Hermosa Strand could be implemented along with improving existing bike lanes on each side of the street. For the longer term, the Plan could recommend including a bike path through King Harbor when the area is redeveloped. If the Master Plan does not include this, it’s unlikely that it will ever happen.
The public can review the complete Master Plan at www.southbaybicyclecoalition.org. Contact your local city council members if you have concerns about the Plan. To learn more about this issue, and check on the status go to www.savethestrand.info.
Dean Francois is a former Redondo Beach Public Works Commissioner and is President of the “Friends of the South Bay Bicycle Path.” He is a member of the Sierra Club PV-SB Conservation Committee.
More on Re-industrialization of the Waterfront
Adding more industrial development on our Coast, West Basin Municipal Water District will soon roll out a master plan for a large desalination plant as part of the re-industrialization of the 50-acre AES power plant site in Redondo.
Desalination does great harm to the marine environment, requires a tremendous amount of energy and is much more expensive than other ways of ensuring local control of water supply. The City of Los Angeles and the Department of Water & Power have shelved their desalination plans. They have found much better ways to secure their water future and save money doing it.
Less expensive alternatives to desalinating seawater include more water reclamation, storm water treatment, groundwater recharge, rain capture, and the cheapest of all, conservation.
According to West Basin’s own studies, Los Angeles residents only use 124 gallons of fresh water per day and South Bay residents use 232 gallons per day. Much more can be done to increase water conservation. The Sierra Club Angeles Water Committee recently published a survey of water conservation measures of local cities, which can be viewed at: http://angeles.sierraclub.org/water/conservation.html