10 Reasons to Oppose AES Redondo Beach Power Plant Rebuild
- Emissions from the new power plant would increase 700%.
- 6,850 students go to school within 1.5 miles of it.
- AES management has a horrendous track record and has been involved in several law suits and financial crisis issues including Enron. Read this "AES Corporation: Rewriting the Rules of Management".
- AES's largest customer is J.P. Morgan according to the AES company fact sheet on the web site. A bank as your largest customer? Sounds a bit like Enron to me. This Redondo Beach power from this plant is not needed per the CAISO and CEC reports.
- Power plant lines bring down property values at least 25% in the Redondo Beach & South Hermosa Beach areas and block ocean views. The power lines may go as well. This has not been studied.
- AES hurts the fiscal health of the Redondo King Harbor area surrounding businesses. New waterfront developments have been put on hold because of the power plant rebuild issue. Many new restaurants would likely follow the new Shade Hotel being built on King Harbor more money would flow to the City if the power plant was gone.
- Opposing it costs nothing & AES only needs the Council and others to do nothing and we all lose. Doing nothing plays right into their hands. This is not about the future zoning of the site. We definitely don't want a new power plant. See map below of what this area could be.
- AES pays little in taxes only $385,000 / year in tax revenue to the city.
- AES plant borders on South Hermosa Beach and most HB residents will be affected.
- The loud steam blasts in the middle of the night are simply ridiculous and this beautiful park rendering (see picture below) done by the California Coast Commission would be incredible the area.
In a 3-2 vote, the Redondo Beach City Council decided to continue its discussion on a resolution opposing the repowering of AES Redondo Beach at the July 10 meeting. After a meeting that lasted more than seven hours until 1 am, the Redondo Beach City Council decided to delay its discussion on whether to pass a resolution opposing the repowering of the AES Redondo Beach power plant on Harbor Drive until the July 10. This will allow city staff time to hire an independent consultant to perform an amortization report on the current structure. Councilmen Matt Kilroy and Pat Aust both said they wanted to read such a report before making a final decision. Is this just a delay tactic? Read more on Redondo Patch and Easy Reader.
Redondo Beach City Council
Matt Kilory, Steve Aspel, Bill Brand, Pat Aust, Steve Diels
Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes should participate as well in support of removing the power plant. NIMBY thinking and waiting is just plain lazy and stupid. All surrounding City Council members need to work together because this is such a big issue. Lets set politics aside and be proactive about finding a solution to do the right thing. This is not just about Redondo Beach and we all stand to benefit with cleaner air and potentially new development that we all can use. The King Harbor area has so much potential. Its a developers "wet dream" and huge private money would follow the opportunity to create something amazing.
It Redondo Beach City Council's job to find an alternative solution for the power plant land. However, we all know political people are lazy and always need LOTS of "hand holding" so they feel safe. Why would City Council members be reluctant to oppose the new power plant remodel that produces a minuscule $200,000 in tax revenue per year which is less money than the city makes from its parking garage at the pier.
Is AES threatening Redondo Beach City Council members with a law suit? Any initiative by the city residents is not likely to provide AES with any basis to sue the city. Finally, there is an amortization process through which a city, or a citizen's initiative, can allow businesses adequate time to get a return on their investment in a property before a specific use is banned. The proposed citizen initiative would eliminate industrial uses by 2020, which I think is plenty of time (8 years) for AES to get adequate return on their investment in the property, especially considering the majority of the equipment is old and obsolete, and esentially worthless at this point.
AES is no stranger to crisis and law suits. In 1992, AES flirted with disaster when its Shady Point generating facility in Oklahoma was discovered to have been discharging polluted water and to have falsified the samples it provided to the Environmental Protection Agency. In the same year, AES was forced to abandon its rebuilding of a power plant at Cedar Bay, Florida following a dispute
with state officials and the local community. These events caused AES’s share price to fall by half. AES has multiple law suits against the company (see AES Law Suits) search results.
AES is a $9 billion public company (NYSE: AES) planning to make a $500M+ investment on a power plant that might be worth an estimated $135M (comps based on AES Huntington Beach valuation performed in 2011). AES is looking to repower the plant in 2018. They are currently using the plant only 5% of the time right now, and with an investment of $630 million for a new plant, the amount of energy needed to pay back the investment will mean lots of particulate matter in the atmosphere in Redondo, Hermosa, and surrounding communities. While the footprint will be smaller (12 acres vs the current 50 acres, 4 stacks instead of 5), any chance for revitalizing the waterfront will be lost for 50+ years as no one will want to invest in the area. Here are some points and a link to FAQs Tear Down Redondo Beach Power Plant Blog:
California Coastal Commission's study for AES power plant area
