Category: Take Action

Save the Date! Next CEC Wksp is Friday, Oct.19, 1pm with 6pm public comment time at Grossmont College

Fall beauty in Mission Trails Regional ParkYou are needed–Yes, Again!!—at the California Energy Commission (CEC) Public Workshop #4 on Quail Brush. Attend and make sure our dedication and thoughtful local zoning laws are NOT bulldozed over by this state agency. The citizens of San Diego and Santee know what’s best for our communities, our park, our health, and the environment. Say NO to the not-needed fossil-fuel power plant. Keep our community green and clean!

DATE / TIME: Friday, Oct. 19, 1 pm; public comment time starting at 6 pm
(See below for free parking permit.)
TO DO: When you enter, write your note of opposition on a form to be posted in the public record.
NOTE: If you can’t come for the whole day, DO show up when you can. The public comment time is scheduled to continue until everyone who wants to speak or ask a question, does so. (Scroll down to see link below for how to participate remotely if you can’t attend.)
LOCATION: Grossmont College, 8800 Grossmont College Drive, El Cajon, 92020, off the 125, Building 60 – Griffin Center (in front, southeast corner). For a campus map, directions, and free parking pass, click here. Parking is easy and plentiful on Fridays.

Mission Trails' beautiful hillsPer the CEC: The workshop is held to  provide a public forum for staff, the applicant, intervenors, the public, and interested agencies to discuss issues related to the project. Technical areas to be discussed: Soil & Water Resources, Biological Resources, Fire, Noise, and Visual Resources. The public can ask questions and comment about the project and the staff’s environmental review.

Public comments and questions will be accepted at 6 p.m. Additional opportunities for public comment may be provided at other times during the workshop as the parties work through the scheduled topics. The workshop will end after the comment period.

TO PARTICIPATE FROM WORK/HOME: Arrangements have been made for people unable to attend the workshop to participate by telephone and/or by computer.
WebEx and Conference Call-in-toll-free number: 1-866-469-3239
Access code: 926819370
Meeting Password: meeting@1
For details, click here and scroll to page 4-5.

Thank you all for your persistence. We will prevail with everyone’s continued efforts.

Wed., Oct. 3 is Next Major Event to Stop the Power Plant – CEC Public Workshop

Get ready now for the California Energy Commission (CEC) Public Workshop on the Quail Brush power plant. It is CRUCIAL that once again we all show up and voice our opposition! We will NOT allow our hard work and thoughtful local jurisdiction decisions to be overriden at the state level. WE know what’s good for our cities, communities, park, and health. Just say NO to the power plant at Mission Trails!

DATE: Wednesday, October 3, at 2:00 pm. Allow extra time for parking. (See below for parking permit.) Note: If you can’t come at 2:00, DO show up later, as it is scheduled to continue until everyone who wants to speak or ask a question, does so. (See link below for how to participate remotely if you can’t attend.)

LOCATION: Grossmont College, 8800 Grossmont College Drive, El Cajon, 92020, off the 125, Building 60 – Griffin Center (in front, southeast). For a highlighted map of the workshop location, directions, and a parking permit (p.2), click: CEC GROSSMT MTG MAP & PARKING PASS.

Per the CEC:  The workshop is being held to provide a public forum for staff, the project applicant, intervenors, the public and interested agencies to discuss issues related to the project. The technical areas that will be discussed are Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Fire Protection, Public Health and Worker Safety. The workshop will also give the chance for the public to ask questions and comment about the project and the staff’s environmental review.

Arrangements have been made for people unable to attend the workshop to participate by telephone and/or by computer.
WebEx and Conference Call-in-toll-free number: 1-866-469-3239
Access code: 929522155    Meeting Password: meeting@2
For details, click here and scroll to page 2.

See you there Wednesday!

Save the Date – Mon., Sept. 24, 2 PM, S.D. City Council Hearing

Tierrasanta Rally Sept. 15

Update – If you can’t make Monday, Sept. 24’s meeting at 2 pm, you can still submit your comment electronically Monday morning or earlier. Here’s how: Click here and type “200 9/24/12” for Item Number and Date. Add your name and address and zip and type “Opposed” in the Comment Box. Submit. Takes 2 minutes.

Save your health, property, communities, and Mission Trails Regional Park! The City of San Diego councilmembers will hear the appeal by CoGentrix to initiate the community plan amendment to re-zone to industrial the East Elliott Community open space adjacent to Mission Trails Regional Park and Santee.  Do your part to NOT let this happen. Make a phone call or send your email asap! Join us at the public hearing on Monday, Sept. 24, 2:00 PM, at 202 C St, 12th Floor, San Diego, 92101 to show mass public opposition to this unwanted and not-needed fossil fuel plant. Come early at 1:00 PM, if you can, for a Rally outside City Hall (same address above). Wear orange to show solidarity!

Rally Reminder! Tierrasanta Saturday 9/15 4-6 PM

Join the SMT Rally – Sat, Sept 15 – 4-6 pm at the intersection of Santo Rd. and Tierrasanta Blvd.  Wear orange and bring a sign (or borrow one of ours) to grow awareness of the power plant among the Tierrasanta community and encourage opposition letters/phone/emails/fax to the San Diego councilmembers.  SMT T-shirts available by donation at the event. Follow up with the free concert (below)!

Tierrasanta Concert in the Park- Sat,  Sept 15 – 6-9 pm – Following the rally, we’ll have fun at Tierrasanta’s final summer concert (“High Tides” with reggae/roots/ska music) while doing public outreach and community building. – Tierrasanta Recreation Center

Follow up with a SMT  Community Outreach Meeting  –
Tues, Sept 18 and 25 – 6:30-7:45 pm at Tierrasanta Library, 4985 La Cuenta Dr, San Diego 92124  Help defeat QB and save Mission Trails and adjoining communities! Get status reports/info, meet group members, and volunteer.  See you there!

What can I do RIGHT NOW to Defeat Quail Brush?

While many folks were vacationing this summer, you can bet that CoGentrix was NOT.  Certainly they were “wining and dining” with San Diego City Councilmembers to promote their ill-conceived fossil fuel plant in our open space and community.

Well, San Diego City Councilmembers need to hear from us, too! We are the ones who will be affected 24/7 by pollution, noise, property value loss, and detriment to Mission Trails Regional Park – set aside for recreation and wildlife preservation, not heavy industrial. The San Diego City Council will have a public hearing Monday, September 24, 2 pm with CoGentrix.  (Attend! Participate! Save the date and click here for updates.) Your statement of opposition via phone call, letter,email, or fax are needed TODAY  (just a few sentences “I oppose Quail Brush Generation Project because…” is fine) to the San Diego City Councilmembers. If you email, include the CA Energy Commission (CEC) via a cc to e.solorio@energy.ca.state.us.

-Live in the City of San Diego?  Be sure to tell your councilmember that you are a voting constituent. (Find your councilmember by zip code here.)
-Is Tierrasanta your home as well?  Contact your Tierrasanta Community Councilmembers too. (And click here for upcoming Tierrasanta events.)
-Live in San Carlos, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, Grantville? Navajo Community Planners need to hear directly from you.
-In East County? Yes, write the San Diego City Councilmembers again and remind them that there’s an overcapacity of energy – no need for the plant, and the site is correctly zoned open space as part of Mission Trails expansion area and a high fire-hazard zone.

Thanks to you we can keep Mission Trails and East Elliott green and our air clean!

Rally Reminder – Sat. 8/18 4-6pm Tierrasanta, Join the Fight!

Our beautiful park and healthy communities are worth saving!

Rally Tierrasanta citizens to learn about and help stop the ill-conceived siting of a fossil fuel gas power plant in a high fire-hazard zone near their park and community. Join Save Mission Trails volunteers at the intersection of Santo Rd. and Clairemont Mesa Blvd. from 4-6:00 PM in Tierrasanta, Saturday, August 18. Bring a sign (or borrow one of ours) and wear something orange!

Then from 6-9:00 pm join us at Tierrasanta’s Concert in the Park, ”Y3K” 80s Rock n’ Roll, at the Tierrasanta Recreation Center at 11220 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Support a great cause and have some fun too!

Game On! CoGentrix Appeals – What You Can Do Now

As expected, CoGentrix has appealed the Planning Commission’s Denial to Initiate an Amendment of the City’s General Plan and East Elliott Community Plan. The appeal was submitted to the San Diego City Council on August 2, 2012. Touting the power plant’s purported “energy, economic, and environmental benefits,” CoGentrix is asking S.D. City Council to approve initiation of the Plan Amendments to “allow for the development and operation of the proposed Project.”

Click to see what you can do

We say, “Benefits for whom?”  It’s CERTAINLY NOT beneficial to the local communities, Tierrasanta, Navajo, El Cajon, La Mesa, and especially Santee, who will suffer worse air quality and subsequent health issues, decreased property values and ensuing reduced tax income for local governments, noise pollution, visual blight, and diminished civic pride. It’s NOT beneficial to the citizens of San Diego who value the region’s gem, Mission Trails, and show off its impressive views and open spaces to our out-of-state friends. NOT to the park users out getting exercise and enjoying some respite from urbanity nor for the scouts on campouts, moms and dads walking with strollers, hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians. NOT beneficial to the area’s indigenous, and some endangered, plants and animals and the San Diego River watershed. And NOT for the SDG&E ratepayers who will pay the $600 million cost of the plant, per the California Energy Commission (CEC).

Energy benefits? We prefer conservation, energy efficiency, rooftop solar in our sun-drenched communities, grid-scale clean energy storage technology, and other forward-thinking solutions for reliable energy – which by the way, we already have and is NOT threatened, even with the possible permanent closure of San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, per the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

We say don’t open the door for re-zoning this precious Open Space to Industrial, especially for a natural gas power plant in a high fire hazard area. Let’s all do what we can to protect this special area and keep our communities safe:

While San Diego City Council is at recess for the month of August, we are NOT! 

Thanks for everything you do!