January 2013 – Save Mission Trails

We Need an Army to show up Friday evening, Feb. 1, at the CPUC Public Forum!

What happened at the CPUC meeting? If you asked that question, then you are concerned about your community or park. Everyone who cares about this issue and wants to stop the Quail Brush power plant by Mission Trails Regional Park must show up at the CPUC Public Forum on Friday, February 1, 6PM, Al Bahr Shrine Center, 5440 Kearny Mesa Rd, San Diego – click here for Google map. Rally at 5:15 PM in the Al Bahr Parking Lot. See additional image for directions and map below. Save the Date, Save the Park.

Okay! But what happened at the meeting? The vote was delayed AGAIN. Why? Cogentrix and SDGE successfully lobbied the CPUC to delay the vote a third time for two more weeks. They requested the CPUC take a “wait and see” approach rather than reject the gas plant. Meanwhile, the CPUC agreed to hold a Public Forum in San Diego led by their top SoCal staff person.

SDGE will no doubt roll out their allies. For example, if SDGE treats this like the CPUC public meetings on wildfire expenses last year, we can expect to see recipients of their philanthropy that have nothing to do with this issue. So wear orange and let’s unite once again! Stop the polluting fossil fuel plant near our homes and MTRP!

This location is confirmed! AL Bahr Phone: (858) 292-0092

Turn into the driveway on either side of the Hampton Inn. The Al Bahr Center is behind the inn

San Diego Mayor Filner Sends his strongly-worded Letter of Support

San_Diego_City_Seal Save Mission Trails is happy to share that Bob Filner, the Mayor of San Diego, sent a strongly worded letter supporting the CPUC, the San Diego City Council decision, and opposing the Quail Brush power plant. Your letters of support are very important too. We need letters addressed to Governor Jerry Brown from our community and beyond to protect our beloved park and quality of life. Please send it by Jan. 20th. Click here to write Gov. Jerry Brown

Below is Mayor Bob Filner’s letter:

December 18, 2012

Commissioner Mark J. Ferron
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Re: Support for Proposed Decision/Alternative Proposed Decision
Application # 11-05-023

Dear Commissioner Ferron:

I strongly support both the Proposed Decision of Administrative Law Judge Hallie Yacknin and the Alternative Proposed Decision of Commissioner Mark J. Ferron in Application 11-05-023 to deny the authority of SDG&E to enter into purchase power tolling agreements with Pio Pico Energy Center and Quail Brush Power. I applaud your commitment to implement the California state loading order in meeting our energy resource needs.

On September 24, 2012, the San Diego City Council voted unanimously to deny the request for initiation of a zoning change to allow the construction of Quail Brush Power in a designated open space area. The proposed location of the facility is part of a critically important open space network and regional biological preserve.

In addition to incompatible land use impacts, I believe better alternatives exist to meet our local energy resource needs – namely energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation and combined heat and power. Such preferred resources help to I protect human health and the environment, mitigate the impacts of climate change, meet state greenhouse gas reduction goals, and foster an innovation economy. I am committed to making the City of San Diego a leader in reducing our energy demand proﬁle through alternative energy sources.

Construction of new, expensive and polluting fossil-fuel peaker plants detracts from that vision and strategy. There are limited resources available to implement our energy future and decisions to build expensive power plants foregoes opportunities for creating an efficient, clean and prosperous energy future.

For all these reasons, I support the Proposed Decision and the Alternative Proposed Decision and look forward to collaborating on building a new energy paradigm.

Sincerely,
Bob Filner
Mayor

CITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 202 C STREET
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92101 (619) 236-6330

Here is the mayor’s letter in PDF format

URGENT new action to email Governor Brown!

Cogentrix, owner of Quail Brush Power, is desperately trying to reverse the CPUC Proposed Decision. They have delayed the vote five times with their intensive lobbying. Cogentrix knows the upcoming decision would deny them the right to sell power, thus killing investor interest. Without investment money, their power plant is as good as dead, they will lose their footing, and our park and community will thrive.

We need Governor Brown to speak on behalf of the public interest and to relieve the pressure on the CPUC to rewrite their decision.
On the Governor’s Website Form, choose Public Utilities Commission from the drop-down menu, click continue, then click PRO, then write your letter (or copy the one below). Include your name and city.
Click here to Email Governor Jerry Brown

Sample Letter to Governor Brown:

Governor Jerry Brown
State Capital, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

I am writing in support of the CPUC ALJ’s Proposed Decision for SDGE’s application A1105023.

I agree with San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, who wrote a letter expressing his support of this draft decision, stating he is ready to move San Diego to a new energy paradigm. Considering the obsolete technology proposed by Quail Brush and the hundreds of tons of pollutants it will produce, Mayor Filner is correct that now is the time for real change.

The CPUC and the CEC must support a future without fossil fuel dependency. These agencies are poised, rightly, to deny the unneeded Quail Brush plant. California’s massive commercial and residential energy conservation programs are paying off. Additionally, California should move forward to be a world leader in distributed generation, community-owned microgrids, and NetZero Communities.

The energy industry is lobbying heavily to get the CPUC Proposed Decision reversed, while more than 8,000 Californians have contacted the CPUC with their support. I ask you to protect the public interest by formally supporting the Proposed Decision at the CPUC.

Sincerely,
John Q. Public

Click here to Email Governor Jerry Brown

or
You may mail or contact Governor Jerry Brown at:

Mailing address:
Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160

Reference Links:
CPUC Proposed Decision

CPUC Vote Delayed AGAIN – Intensified Lobbying Threatens our Park and Communities

The CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) vote on Quail Brush was rescheduled from Dec. 20 to Jan. 10, and now postponed again to Thursday, JANUARY 24. Meanwhile, Cogentrix has intensified its lobbying. Top executives, their high-priced lobbyist, and lawyers met on December 12 behind closed doors with the Commissioners’ staff in an effort to sway the upcoming vote.

Remember David and Goliath. Keep up the good fight! It is imperative we continue to grow the CPUC email campaign. Please commit to recruit AT LEAST TWO of your friends and family to email TODAY. Comment via Save Mission Trails with our letter and easy instructions. (The Sierra Club link will be repaired and posted soon.)

Or comment with your own words. Email public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov
Include in the Subject Line: A1105023 – Support the Proposed Decision.
Be sure to INCLUDE YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, CITY, ZIP to be counted.

A FEW TALKING POINTS . . .

The opposition’s energy planning and requirement claims are based on grossly inaccurate assumptions and estimates made on ten-year-old data that project unrealistically high energy needs.
Their out-of-date estimates ignore California’s massive and successful recent efforts to conserve energy, efforts that are being paid for by State tax payers, and that are involving the participation of thousands of our citizens.
As a result of widespread commercial and residential energy conservation, today we do not have the hyper-inflated energy requirements that the opposition claims as the necessity for plants such as Quail Brush.
Bottom Line: Support the CPUC Proposed Decision for A1105023.

GOOD NEWS!! Save Mission Trails is one of the East County Magazine’s Newsmakers of the Year for 2012. Congratulations, everyone! (Note: While the blurb mentions that TWO CPUC officials have deemed the plant unnecessary, the entire commission must uphold this decision on January 24 to stop Quail Brush.)