Panel Backs Power Plant
Riverside: The facility could be operational by August 2005 officials say Public input is sought.
By Nathan Max
Published November 17, 2004
Reprinted with permission from The Press-Enterprise

A California Energy Commission subcommittee has recommended a special exemption for a proposed $75 million, 96-megawatt, natural-gas-fired power plant that Riverside Public Utilities plans to build near the city's sewage-treatment plant.

The project, named Riverside Energy Resource Center, now enters a 30-day pubic comment period and is scheduled for a Dec. 15 vote before the full Energy Commission. The plant qualifies for special exemption consideration because it is smaller than 100 megawatts.

"The committee believes there will be no significant negative impacts as a result of the power plant," California Energy Commission Spokesman Chris Davis said.

Steve Badgett, Riverside Public Utilities' assistant director for energy delivery, said August 2005 is the city's target date for making the plant operational.

The city must still obtain approval from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, State Water Quality Board, Fish and Game, and the city's Planning Commission, Badgett said.

Opposition to the plant has come mainly from a labor coalition called California Unions for Reliable Energy, or CURE. The group has argued environmental effects from the plant, such as air pollution, would be sufficient to warrant a full environmental impact report from the Energy Commission. The commission's subcommittee disagreed.

"We find CURE's assertions to be clearly erroneous, unsupported by facts, or both," the report says.

CURE spokesman Marc D. Joseph, with the Bay Area law firm Adams, Broadwell, Joseph and Cardozo, said the group was "disappointed" in the committee's proposed decision.

"We think the committee has misapplied the law and, if it is approved by the committee, (the plant) will result in environmental damage in the RIverside area that could otherwise be avoided," he said in a phone interview.