Power plant rejected

The California Energy Commission denied permits, Wednesday, for the purposed East Shore Energy Center on the Hayward shoreline.

The CEC based their unanimous decison on unmitigated impacts such as land use issues and interference the smoke plumes would have on the Hayward Airport's landing paths.The denial of Eastshore was celebrated throughout the community, who had been actively campaigning against the plant.

"The CEC's unanimous denial of Eastshore is a great victory for Hayward, Chabot and the Eden Gardens neighborhood. We are very happy with the decision," said Hayward Mayor Michael Sweeney.

Many citizens have said that the advocacy against the power plants brought the community together.

"This two year process has been a historic event uniting this community as nothing before it has. It has inspired us to better understand this threat to public health, and the environment. We have stood together to require a better way. We require clean, locally farmed energy," said activist Rob Simpson. Simpson has led the fight against Eastshore, and the already approved Russell City Energy Center.

CEC Commissioner Jeffery Byron also stated his admiration in the community pulling together, but said he would also like to see the same passion channeled into a campaign stressing the high pollutants emitted by car fumes.

Byron also felt that the leaders at Chabot had not done their jobs in providing the students with the information they needed to make an informed decision.

"Leadership at Chabot could have done a better job informing students and staff about the risk as well as the benefits of the plant compared to driving instead of fanning the flames with rhetoric and fear," said Byron.

Byron said that the amount of pollution that Chabot students and staff create when driving to and from school was also an astounding pollutant in itself, and he was disappointed that this issue was not stressed when taking about pollutants.

"We all use energy, yet we don't want the generators. The fact is that to really reduce green house gases we need to curb driving as well," said Byron. "Based on a comparison by my staff, when I drive from Sacramento to Hayward I emit 60 times the nitrous oxide, and 30 times more green house gases than I did using the electricity in my house in a day."

Leaders at Chabot were eager to defend their stance on the power plant."Chabot College's position on the power plants was not created by 'leadership fanning the flames of fear,'"said Chabot Vice President of Student Services, Melinda Matsuda.

"Faculty, staff, and students took their position based on tireless dedicated hours of research to gather the facts to back up their position," "They consulted with experts in the field, and could not support any arguments in favor of the power plant. This was truly a grass roots effort," Matsuda added.

Many citizens in Hayward spoke out about the plant because of the high amounts of pollutants that would be spewed into the atmosphere. The CEC stressed that its unanimous decision was not because of pollution, but solely on unmitigated impacts. At the ESC hearing in July pilot Andy Wilson compared the interference from the smoke stack plumes to that of two semi trucks drive right next to you on the highway, impairing a car's ability to steer straight.

The Hayward Airport services more then 147,000 flights a year in one of the most densely populated areas in the U.S. Smoke plumes from the purposed plant would have added to the interference that the Russell City Energy Center would already cause to aviation landing paths.

Activist Simpson stresses this a win regardless of the reason for the denial of the plant. He hopes that Eastshore will not be appealed before the California Supreme Court. This would be a last attempt by Tierra Energy Company to push the plant through.

"We understand that our path to economic and environmental recovery lies in clean, energy independence," said Simpson.

"The Bay Area is moving forward. We hope to continue to work with the commission in this direction."