Come and tell the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) not to cave in to industry pressure. The CPUC must adopt its own proposed decision to delay approval of yet another power plant in Oxnard until the state finishes its review, and require Southern California Edison (SEC) to issue a new request to allow for new clean energy alternative proposals.
At their March 17 meeting, the CPUC postponed taking action on a new natural gas plant proposed for Oxnard. CPUC staff issued a proposed decision recommending waiting for further information before taking action on the plant, but a CPUC Commissioner is pushing hard for the plant to be approved.
Now, CPUC Commissioner Peterman has suddenly put an obstacle in the way of clean energy alternatives. She issued an alternate decision approving the contract, saying the CPUC does not have the discretion to delay. This meeting will be a key opportunity to speak up against the plant and further expansion of dirty fossil fuel power in a community that is already overburdened by pollution.
The City of Oxnard, the Sierra Club and the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) have addressed the CEC to point out environmental justice and siting issues of flooding and environmental risks. The CEC siting approval process will consider all of these. The CPUC has issued a proposed decision to delay the consideration of the contract until they complete their assessments of environmental justice impacts and environmental risks. This is assuredly a huge win. However, the proposed decision does not require SCE to issue a new request to allow for clean energy solutions alternatives, and the CEC must consider clean alternative energy sources before it makes a determination on siting.
The proposed power plant (the Puente Power Project) for SEC would be the fourth power plant in a low income community already severely impacted by health problems from existing plants. This proposal is in response to the CPUC identifying a need for an additional 215-290 MW of new energy resources in the Moorpark area by 2021. This SCE plan proposes to meet all required future demand with this new gas plant and does not include any renewable, energy efficiency or demand response resources.
WHEN
Thursday April 7, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
WHERE
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco