“You’ve formed your opinion,” countered Councilman Pat Aust. “Let’s bring everybody who has your opinion and that will be our meeting.”
Last November, representatives from the AES power plant were invited to speak to the council about their re-powering intentions. In a recent interview, AES Southland president Eric Pendergraft explained that the public process regarding the re-powering will begin when an application is filed with California ISO in August. He said that after the filing, a two year process of public workshops and hearings will begin.
“Sort of everything under the sun gets addressed and analyzed,” Pendergraft said, adding that AES is still conducting assessments and determining what the future plant configuration is going to be. “We are at a stage where we don’t have detailed information to present.”
Aust stressed that much uncertainty remains regarding the plant’s future.
“AES hasn’t done anything yet,” said Aust. “They came and they talked here, but I’m going to go on record – I don’t think you’ll ever see a new power plant built there. I don’t think they want one. They want us to rezone the land for them.”
Gin reminded the council that the proposed special meeting would not be for advocacy, but instead for information.
“If we do nothing, there will be a power plant there, frankly,” said Brand. “AES had a whole night — they were here for three or four hours advocating for a new power plant.”
Residents at the meeting testified for and against the scheduled meeting.
“I don’t want you discussing, at a meeting, at a workshop, ‘Let’s hear from this entity, lets hear from that entity.’ I really want you to go and tell them the people of Redondo want no power plant and no power line,” Adele Gleichman told the council. “Please listen to us.”
Another resident showed her support for the council’s diligence. “[I] don’t see a problem that you’re willing to digest it slowly,” Mary Yule said. “Please give it your time.”
Aust discussed the plant’s 106-year history and the problems with moving quickly.
“The situation that nobody wants to talk about is that even if we said we don’t want that power plant, we can’t tell them to pack up and leave town,” said Aust. “They own the property… They are a business in this city are a property owner in this city. It would be like us sitting up here and saying you bought your house 25 years ago and we don’t like the way it looks and you have to get out of town…We don’t have the power that a lot of people want to give us.”
He also raised the specter of possible litigation associated with making a quick, uninformed decision. “I’ve seen us lose millions of dollars over snap decisions that were made in haste and without thinking them through… I don’t want to waste your money, and I’m not wasting your time by taking time to look through this. We will make a decision…Let’s move along and let’s do this right.”
Brand countered by saying that the council does have the authority to re-zone the land and phase the plant out.
“What we ought to be doing is working with AES say, ‘We don’t want your power plant’ and craft a zoning that will work for the community that will pass a vote…There is something between 3,000 condominiums and a new power plant that the community can agree on.”
