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Palmdale responds to hybrid power plant controversy, again

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(Image concept of Palmdale Hybrid Power Plant, courtesy Inland Energy Inc.)
(Image concept of Palmdale Hybrid Power Plant, courtesy Inland Energy Inc.)

PALMDALE – For the third time in less than a month, the City of Palmdale has responded to set the record straight regarding “erroneous comments” made by Lancaster city officials. The issue again involves the Palmdale Power Plant.

In a press release issued Tuesday, Palmdale officials cited a California Energy Commission study to refute the “unsubstantiated claim that the Palmdale Power Plant would create a six mile high plume,” which would affect operations at Plant 42. Read the full press release below:

Fact vs. Fiction, Part 3 – Lancaster Officials Spin Tales of Imaginary Six Mile High Plume

PALMDALE – In their continuing efforts to spread misinformation about the Palmdale Power Plant, Marvin Crist and R. Rex Parris have made erroneous comments about plumes that they claim will be produced by power plant operations.

At the May 21 Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD) Crist revived his unsubstantiated claim that the Palmdale Power Plant would create a “six mile high plume.”

In his response to a presentation by Palmdale’s Public Works Director Mike Mischel, Crist stated, “You’re talking a plume that will be 6 miles in the air—steam, but at some times it will be six miles in the air….It still burns fossil fuels, tons of emissions going over the top of the soccer fields – a plume that will be six miles high on a daily basis.”

Crist has raised this concern before, claiming that the alleged “six mile high plume” would affect operations at Plant 42.

The FACT is, according to the study done by the California Energy Commission (CEC) which issued the permit to construct the Palmdale Power Plant, no such “six mile high plume” exists. In its Commission Decision on the Palmdale Power Plant issued in Aug. 2011, the CEC stated in the Visual Resources section that “Under certain weather conditions, visible water vapor plumes would emanate from the exhaust stacks and cooling tower.” The documentation states that the plumes are seasonal, during certain hours, conditions, and generally Nov. though April.

The report stated: “The original 20th percentile plume dimensions from the proposed ten-cell cooling towers were estimated at approximately 574 feet high, 161 feet wide, and 225 feet long. Based on the PSA workshop, Staff revised the plume modeling ….and the revised plume dimensions are larger than earlier calculations:  622 feet high, 203 feet wide, and 231 feet long. (CEC Commission Decision, Visual Resources, Pages 8.5 18 & 19.)

“That’s only 31,680 feet short of Crist’s claim and only a little more than the height of the wind turbine that Parris wants to put up in the middle of Lancaster with almost no environmental review,”  said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford. “The steam plume will generally only be visible on cool, damp days in the winter in a very small window of time.”

Not to be outdone by Crist, Parris complained about the visual impact of the steam plume at a Lancaster City Council Meeting on June 22, 2010 after the second of two presentations made by the City of Palmdale to the Lancaster Council on the power plant.   Parris claimed it “significantly alters the landscape.”

According to the CEC’s Commission Decision, Visual Resources, “we find that the gas turbine/HRSG exhausts will have a plume frequency of less than 20 percent of seasonal clear hours, and would therefore result in less than significant visual impacts.” (CEC Commission Decision, Visual Resources, (Page 8.5-19.) Also, in the Conclusions of Law section the CEC stated that “Implementation of the following Conditions of Certification will result in the project causing no significant direct or indirect impacts to visual resources. (CEC Commission Decision, Visual Resources, Conclusions of Law, Page 8.5-23.)

“Well, there he goes again,” said Ledford. “A considerable amount of time and study went into what visual impacts the Palmdale Power Plant would have. Antelope Valley residents should know that although there will be significant economic benefits of the power plant, most people won’t even know it’s there.”

Among the many economic benefits of the power plant include: over 800 skilled, union construction jobs, overwhelmingly drawn from the local communities; 35 direct, permanent, high paying jobs, with benefits and longevity; 40 – 50 additional indirect (e.g., material and equipment suppliers, truck drivers, out-sourced maintenance services, etc.) and induced (e.g., grocery stores, laundromats, eateries, etc.) jobs; over $5 million dollars a year infused into the local economy. This includes purchase of supplies and equipment, outsourced maintenance, vehicles, legal services, insurance, car & equipment rentals, painting, waste disposal, etc.; more than $6 million annually in property taxes, most of which will accrue to the County, including contributions to local school and water districts; up to $5 million invested for paving of 4 – 6 miles of roads, much of which are in unincorporated Los Angeles County; the construction of a regional reclaimed water trunk line at a cost of some $20 million which will benefit both Palmdale and Lancaster, paid for by the power plant; and up to $27 million paid to the City of Palmdale through the sale, enabling expansion of important general fund programs such as law enforcement and parks programs.

For more information on the Palmdale Power Plant, please visit www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/palmdale.

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Palmdale proposes sale of Power Plant

39 comments for "Palmdale responds to hybrid power plant controversy, again"

  1. I have consistently voiced my opposition to every single solar power deal that Lancaster has enacted. I have spoken many times against the Palmdale power plant. Both cities do not have any business getting involved in the energy production business. They are not energy experts and they do not know what they are doing. Name one council member who has a geology or science degree.

    • Aren’t the agencies that approved the Palmdale power plant EXPERTS on power plants, more so than you are, Michael Rives?

      Are council members experts on hospitals, shopping centers, auto malls, restaurants or any other businesses that they have a direct impact on?

      Where did you get the notion city leaders needed to be experts on power plants to have one in their cities? Was it in a dream of yours.

      • Yes, look at the mayor of Lancaster, he’s an EXPERT accident Lawyer and what has it gotten Lancaster? A public image of being a bully and no place people want to be associated with.
        Yes, all we need is more experts on the councils.. Not!
        Besides you can’t hire all of your associates as expert consultants if everyone on the council are already experts.

    • LOL!!!! Hilarious!!! You can’t be giving me this kind of laughter in an office environment. no es bueno…

      • Scott,
        Good pull.. Plus isn’t AVTimes missing a comics section? Maybe they can contact the great cartoonist Sergio Hernandez and have his work published directly to this site..

        good times..

  3. Why not just build it on the far eastern outskirts of the city, away from Plant 42? It appears both Palmdale and Lancaster have given up on the Defense industry and Plant 42 – case in point, bringing in foreign companies who will surely be spying on what happens here.

  4. I would add a large directional fan to the top of the stack and blow the steam over Rex’s house.

  5. I’m so embarrassed to be a Lancaster resident…. I hang my head in shame…
    Our Mayor Needs to Go.

    • Didn’t the Lancaster City Council vote unanimously to appoint Parris ‘Mayor for Life’ and if there ever is a city merger with Palmdale, Parris will be its ‘king’?

      I thought I saw that on teevee.

    • Mr. Paris,
      When are you going to realize that you are an embarrassment to the city of Lancaster. You have caused more dissent among the residents than any o the politician in the history of our glorious city. It is time to stop acting as a jack a–. Either you start acting for the people instead of yourself ad your political friends that bought you the Mayorship and helped your friends line their pockets. Now your choice before there is a lot of mud dragged around our streets. 1. You must resign to put the city back on track or 2. We will circulate a petition for your removal. Your choice.

  7. “…alters the landscape”????? That’s Parris referring to the plume. Exactly what ‘landscape’ does Lancaster have?

    • Lancaster has lots of landscape. You can see it on a windy day blowing off the baron fields that house all those solar plants 9that lined the King’s pockets and those of his cronies.)

      The whole kerfuffle is about King Rex not wanting any competition for his dusty solar industry. Lancaster is the king of solar and he doesn’t want any competition.

      His boot-licker Marvin ‘the skies falling’ Crist is a few beers short of a sixer when he claims there will be a deadly plume. I think he’s been smoking something that gives off a plume of something.

      We all use natural gas for cooking. We all have boiled water.

      What BS!

      King Rex and Marvin should be recalled.

  9. One has to wonder if Rex lies this much just to try and make Palmdale look bad you then have to wonder how much he lies in court just to try and win lawsuits.

    • You are so right Scott! Rex is a bully who makes me ashamed to say I live in Lancaster.

    • Rex makes me ashamed to live in the AV.

      But when you elect a ambulance chasing shyster as mayor, then, this is what you get.

      • Mayor Ledford is a very good elected official of either party but every time Parris goes after him, Mayor Ledford always comes off the gentleman and the more honorable person.

        ReX. Stop digging.

  10. How about the Joshua tree forest in that area? It is one of the thickest in the area and there are coyotes in that area as well. Last time I checked this is all still considered desert conservation zoned.

    Those look like solar collectors using oil or sodium filled heat transfer pipes. Where is the carbon/fossil fuel exhaust coming from?

  11. Where is the part where it will reduce SCE rates for residents?
    Nowhere to be found because it wont.

    Where is the part about how it will be paid for?
    Nowhere to be found because it wont.

    Where is the part where will utilize a scrubber that captures, stores and recycles the COx emissions?
    Nowhere to be found because it wont.

    Overall it’s a good idea on paper, but it’s honestly short sighted in its engineering and other than the initial profit from the sale of the facility it wont result in much more than chump change of revenues to the city of Palmdale or unincorporated LA county.
    Let’s be factual about the property taxes too.. the AV lures businesses to our valley through tax credits for a given duration of time. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that this $6M/annually will likely be negated in closing the deal to the buyer for the first 10 to 30 years. So selling the people on a one time $27M payout to the general fund under the guise of using it for “law enforcement and parks programs” is disingenuous.

    At least with a scrubber on the exhaust capturing the emissions it would negate the carbon offset requirement and it could possibly be negotiated for Palmdale to see a percentage of the revenues from the sales of CO2 to the oil and carbonic industry..

    If the AV is going to dream big why not Dream Bigger.

    Palmdale needs to stop refuting Lancaster in defense of the project and actually tall them out on solutions to the issues they raise..

    Stop the madness and work together for a solution that the politicians, environmentalists and community as a whole can get behind and support.

    • Adam, for your information, Lancaster keeps making up crap about the power plant.
      The real players, like the EPA and California Energy Commission have inspected the project and issued permits. The EPA called it the cleanest power plant they’ve ever permitted. It was on Time Warner news.

      The owner will will pay for it. Summit Energy is paying. It was covered here on the AV Times.

      If you want higher rates, then wait until the blackouts return due to lack of power generation.

    • @Adam Chant. I noticed, as usual, you ignored the substance of the article and went off on one of your typical rants.

      The article was in response to the lies told by Crist and Parris and you didn’t address any of them.

      • Since when was it mandatory to comment directly about the content of the article? I think that everyone else has done a fine job of voicing their opinion of the comments of Parris and Crist.
        Personally I think they are blowing smoke up everyone’s butts with this ‘6 mile death cloud’ crap.. there are many many other issues to discuss related to this matter worth considering.

        I’m sorry you can’t see my opinion as a valid argument worth considering.. It’s not too late to look into it at this point and could only benefit everyone if it was implemented..

        • Read the paper. Watch the news. They were issued permits to build. By the Environment Protection Agency and the California Energy Commission. A power company bought the project. Quit wasting time with all this BS and let’s put people to work. It would be nice if for once Paris didn’t make us look like a bunch of desert hicks.

  12. “Most people won’t even know it’s there”,unlike Mayor Parris,who seems to be vying for narcissist of the year award.

  13. Hashed and rehashed both sides need to stop although it seems that Mayor Ledford wants to keep the argument going. WHY?

    • Why?because Mr Parris and his minions won’t let it go,they are like chihuahuas nipping at Palmdale’s heels.

    • Boy. Have you gotten things backward? It’s Parris and Crist who are lying and making stuff up and you show up here blaming Mayor Ledford.

      I hope you’ll think before you type next time, Mr. Eason.

        • I”m waiting for them to claim that the power plant will transform desert tortoises into 200 foot long Godzilla tortoises that will terrorize the kids on the BLVD. Just wait.

          • Wouldn’t that be great, Hollywood would be all over it..and the kids would love it, after all the big complaint is there’s nothing to do up here.

        • I think I can accept the diehard partisans who stand by Parris no matter what better than the folks you pretend this is a symmetrical controversy between Parris and Mayor Ledford.

          Come on. Mayor Ledford has never, ever responded in kind to the ‘dufus’ type remarks by Parris. Ever. It’s those people who seem to be the mose clueless and then they come here and prove it.

          • Hey, leave Ledford alone so he can quietly collect his end around paybacks for his consulting work.

          • So what, is he breaking the law?Do you expect him to be able to live on his meager mayor’s salary?
            He is not engaged in the full time job of suing people as is the other guy.