The Newspaper of the San Francisco Bay Chapter
May - June 2005
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County, state approve power plants outside Growth Boundary
Environmentalists have failed to block approval of two power plants in Eastern Alameda County outside the county's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB).
Measure D, passed by county voters in 2000, forbids development outside the UGB except for agriculture, natural-resource protection, recreation, and very low-density residential use.
Calpine Corporation of San Jose and Florida Power and Light, however, proposed to build two huge natural-gas-fired power plants on the eastern side of Altamont Pass near the San Joaquin County line. The county Board of Supervisors and the California Energy Commission cited an exception in Measure D to approve these facilities. This exception permits infrastructure outside the UGB if needed to serve the limited growth allowed by the initiative. The regulators decided that even though just a tiny fraction of the power generated by these stations would be used by Alameda County residents, the plants could qualify for the exception.
An heroic intervention was launched by Tracy resident Bob Sarvey and the non-profit group Californians for Renewable Energy. They contested the applications in marathon proceedings before the Energy Commission, and ultimately appealed to the California Supreme Court. The Club helped by testifying before the commission and the Supervisors. We urged adherence to both the letter and the intent of Measure D, and we pointed out that society's limited resources would be better spent on conservation and renewable energy rather than on fossil-fuel-based generation. Nonetheless, the commission approved the applications, and the high court declined review.
Construction has not started on either power plant. We can be hopeful that the economics of energy may yet lead to use of more benign sources. But there are no free lunches in the energy business: even renewables have environmental impacts: for example, the bird kills in the Altamont from wind turbines (see article, page 10). As long as rapidly growing population drives electricity demand, we will be left with difficult choices. The only sustainable solution is to stabilize population while making the most efficient use of our finite natural resources.
© 2005 San Francisco Sierra Club Yodeler