Posted on 06/09/2002 6:34:57 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
TRACY -- State politics and economics could do what local leaders could not: delay -- if not dismantle -- plans for a 169-megawatt power plant near Tracy.
And it could happen despite a state committee's recommendation in favor of the controversial Tracy Peaker Project.
Plant operator GWF Energy signed a 10-year contract with the state Department of Water Resources that requires the site just south of Tracy to start generating electricity by October. 
But the state Energy Commission has yet to license the plant and cannot do so until convening in mid-July. GWF officials have said they need six months to put the plant on line, which pushes a potential start date to at least January, well beyond the October deadline.
If Pittsburg-based GWF can't meet the deadline, the contract allows the Department of Water Resources to back out of the power-buying deal. And while a complete pull-out is unlikely, the DWR could leverage the delay to renegotiate the contract to lower payments or provide more-favorable supply terms.
DWR spokesman Oscar Hidalgo called consideration of any such options premature but added that the agency is monitoring GWF's progress toward its promised October start-up date.
"If they're delayed, we'll have to deal with it at that point," Hidalgo said. "We'll have to look at the progress they've made and where they are at that time. We'll have to look at the big picture and what the potential risks are."
GWF spokesman Riley Jones said California's energy supply system is fragile enough to entice the department to accept a new schedule.
But, he added, "if they choose to use (the missed deadline) as leverage and they're not reasonable with what they're willing to pay, then obviously the decision would be not to build that plant."
GWF's proposal received a big boost May 31 when a two-member subcommittee of the state Energy Commission issued a report supporting the project. The full commission rarely votes against a committee recommendation.
Tracy, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, environmental groups and residents who live near the 10-acre site of the proposed plant on South Schulte Road oppose the peaker, which would stand on unincorporated land the city plans to annex for homes and businesses.
The subcommittee's report, however, said the project would comply with all environmental regulations.
"I think a lot of our hopes have been dashed," Tracy Councilwoman Suzanne Tucker said. "I was really holding out hope that they would deny it."
The public can send written comments on the report to the commission. Tucker will recommend that the City Council do the same. The subcommittee will host a public meeting on the report July 2 at the Tracy Holiday Inn Express.
Opponents' hopes may rest more realistically, however, with the Department of Water Resources' actions. The Davis administration, criticized for agreeing to pay generators top dollar in long-term contracts signed at the height of the energy crisis, has attempted to renegotiate some power deals.
Administration efforts have been bolstered by the bad publicity and price-gouging allegations surrounding energy companies such as Enron. Renegotiating also allowed some generators to avoid legal challenges to the original contracts and still lock in profitable rates while market prices dropped from sky-high levels.
In April, the governor's office announced eight revised agreements, including four with supplier Calpine, which would save an estimated $3.5 billion.
Jones said GWF has always acted in good conscience with its energy sales and noted that the company supplied four months of power during the energy crisis without being paid. GWF has since struck a deal with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to get paid for that power.
Any delay in putting the plant on line stems from the state's lengthy regulatory process, Jones said.
But the DWR's Hidalgo said the contract stands with its current deadline, delays or not.
"There is a risk borne by the generator when it comes to this type of thing," he said.
* To contact reporter Cheryl Miller, phone 833-1142 or e-mail cmiller@recordnet.com
For more information on the Tracy Peaker Project, go to www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/tracypeaker/documents.
The public can send written comments on the recommended approval of the project to California Energy Commission Docket Unit, MS-4, Attn.: Docket No. 01-AFC-16, 1516 Ninth St., Sacramento, CA 95814.
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TRACY PEAKER POWER PLANT PROJECT
More -- Not in My Back Yard.
Attention power plant operators: You will be treated better in foreign countries. Do not try to build power plants in enemy-occupied California.
This is a modest power plant in an already industrial area! See the following!
General Description of Project
GWF Energy LLC (GWF) is seeking approval of an Application for Certification from the California Energy Commission for the construction and operation of the Tracy Peaker Project. GWF proposes to build and operate the project, a nominal 169- megawatt (MW), simple-cycle power plant, on a 10.3-acre fenced site within a 40-acre parcel in an unincorporated portion of San Joaquin County.
The property is bounded by the Delta-Mendota Canal to the southwest, agricultural property to the south and east, and the Union Pacific Railroad to the north. Immediately north of the railroad are the Owens-Brockway glass container manufacturing plant and the Nutting-Rice warehouse. The Tracy Biomass power plant is approximately 0.6 miles to the northwest.
The project would consist of the power plant, an onsite 230-kilovolt (kV) switchyard, an onsite natural gas supply interconnection, an approximately 1,470-foot water supply pipeline (as measured from the fence line), and improvements to an existing dirt access road approximately one mile in length.
The Energy Commission's facility certification process carefully examines public health and safety, environmental impacts and engineering aspects of proposed power plants and all related facilities such as electric transmission lines, natural gas pipelines, etc. The Energy Commission's responsibilities are similar to those of a lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Any delay in putting the plant on line stems from the state's lengthy regulatory process, Jones said.
I thought that Gov. Davis set up an expedited process that was suppose to speed up the permitting of critically needed power plants. Oh, I'm sorry, that was just political spin when their were blackouts and people demanding power. I should have known better (/sarcasm)
Actually a simple cycle CT is an interesting project. Cheap capital cost, but pretty expensive cost per kWh, which just comes on line during heavy load hours during peak use season. I hope that they hang tough on the contract and it DWR tries to back down, that they complain loudly about the Gov not living up to his end of the bargin on expedited permitting. Could be interesting during the end of the election cycle.
Any delay in putting the plant on line stems from the state's lengthy regulatory process, Jones said.
But the DWR's Hidalgo said the contract stands with its current deadline, delays or not.
"There is a risk borne by the generator when it comes to this type of thing," he said.
Yes, California's official policy is that the risk of state inaction, incompetence, and bad-faith dealing must be borne by the producer.
This is just incredible to me. And when the state runs out of power again, as it surely will, the state will blame the producers for not building plants and will call it a conspiracy. I've seen this plot before.
The Logic of how Davis and the State agencies are managing all of the State's Power needs is just beyond understanding!
The utilities should express it as a line item on the bill:
State Government Incompetence Fee...........$XX.XX
The next power crisis in California probably isn't that far away. The economy and the ability to import hydro power from Washington is masking the fact that California's power needs will grow in the future as the population increase. Hydro can't keep up with it. It's pretty much maxxed out right now.
And in the future, power companies won't be lured by empty promises, no matter how high prices get.
You need to add another digit to the left of the decimal.
Of course you have, and of course they will. It's been going on for decades for heaven's sake.
You have said elsewhere that you didn't see any winners after the power crisis last summer. That just does not stand to reason. People spent tens of billions of dollars more for a critical commodity, and you infer that NOBODY is winning?
A particular political claque spends twenty years setting up an electricity shortage by suing any company with the temerity to build a power plant, suing to make old plants convert or shut down, and suing any nuclear or hydro source. The early players end up as CEOs (Bryson), the Assemblyman who set up phony deregulation (Peace), and the Governor (as supported by the Sierra Club). Within two years after the Bray Davis is elected (the first Democrat governor since Gerry Brown), the shortage shows up right on time. Shortages guarantee high prices and these thugs will do ANYTHING to prevent access to resources to keep them that way (remember Carter?).
This game is about WHO is allowed to play and profit. You have to pay the political freight or you don't get in (and that includes Kyoto). Bryson wants top dollar from his existing plants. He thinks he'll go through reorganization, screw his suppliers, lock in those long term contracts, and come out smelling like a rose. Perhaps that is why he gave Bray Davis $250,000 to become governor?
Then there's Merril Lynch, who gets to run the credit card operation refinancing California debt. Goodness knows how many other Wall Street banks are going to make money there, just like they do with third world debt. Don't you think that they are winning?
As far as I can tell, you keep assuming that these people CARE whether California goes into the economic toilet and therefore assume that they are stupid. I have news for you: Putting California into an economic straitjacket is EXACTLY what they want. Bryson doesn't care if SCE is competitive, as long as they are in a closed power market. He and his buddies don't want a prosperous state because that brings development that harms their eco-paradise (even though it will backfire). They will do anything to make more money while delivering less by making certain that consumers have no choice but to pay for what they must have. That gives them the money to buy politicians and stay in power. You will note that conservative farmers are too poor to fight back.
Liberals are evil. The Slave Party designed welfare to enslave and kept it in place for 30 years even though everybody knew it kept people in poverty. They destroyed black America and they will do the same to Hispanics if they can. They destroyed public schools and it was intentional (see Charlotte Iserbyt’s or John Taylor Gatto’s books). They lied about sexual liberalization and forced a gay agenda directed toward pedophilia to destroy the society and the family unit as they knew it would (Rockefeller funded Kinsey). They knew damned well Social Security and Mediscare would bankrupt us and yes, that was planned too. You just think that they're stupid or that they can't hold together a conspiracy? It looks to me as if that is what it is and that they are slowly winning.
Limousine liberals know exactly what they are doing and they don't care what happens to the middle or lower classes. So call me a conspiracy nut if you like, because right now the same people are creating future domestic shortages of water and food using EXACTLY the same means as they did with housing, timber, minerals, fuel, and electrical power: environmental lawsuits. Food and water will be next unless they are stopped, else Mexico and other (forever) developing countries will be holding us hostage for food. Maybe they should call it the Organization of Food Use Control Knowledge.
The evil power producers are all on the ropes. Enron is gone for all practical purposes. Even Calpine, Davis's favorite power company, is struggling to stay afloat.
The environmentalists took a major hit, rightly receiving much of the blame for the lack of generating capacity in the state.
Wall Street may make some money out of the wreckage here, assuming they choose to underwrite some debt financing, but their cut is peanuts compared to the billions squandered in the fiasco.
I'm kind of like that little kid in the movie Sixth Sense, except that I see losers everywhere.
I thought it an appropriate touch.
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