There's a controversy powering up in Redondo Beach over whether to shut down the AES power plant--earlier this week, the city council postponed a decision of whether to place the so-called Power Plant Phase-Out Initiative on the ballot, reports the Redondo Beach Patch. According to Patch, "The initiative...would rezone AES' property on Harbor Drive for up to 40 percent commercial and institutional use; the rest would be parkland. Power generation would not be allowed after 2020." The power plant's lease is up in 2018, but AES officials say they are "preparing to file an application to repower--rebuild--the Redondo Beach plant." Although supporters of the initiative collected the required signatures necessary to get on the ballot, the city council had several options on the table at Tuesday's hearing: 1) placing the initiative on the March ballot, 2) demanding an environmental impact report and traffic studies, or 3) taking 30 days to study the measure. In the end, the council chose door number three, allowing the city attorney three weeks to research the legal issues surrounding the initiative.
Predictably, legal actions seem unavoidable, no matter which course the council takes. An attorney representing NoPowerPlant.com informed the council that they are prepared to sue to have the initiative put on the ballot. There was also a letter from AES Southland President Eric Pendergraft that "strongly implied ... that the company would sue the city if city staff did not complete the more detailed review process." Image via AES
· Council Postpones Vote to Put Anti-Power Plant Initiative on Ballot [Redondo Beach Patch]
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