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Wednesday night, September 30th, 2009, was the last night of 6 LADWP Workshops that are part of a "Scoping Plan" which is part of the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) process. This meeting was conducted at the Van Nuys "Marvin Braude Constituent Center" in Van Nuys. The first problem of the day was my call to the LADWP on the day of the event to RSVP. I was told that the event was full. I asked for David Nahai’s office – the GM of the LADWP. I finally got a reservation. Is that why my evening with the LADWP started out all wrong – they wanted to limit the crowd – which represented most of the West San Fernando Valley – to about 100 people? Normally I consider myself a "neutral" - someone who listens to all sides of the story and applies the science and logic to it. But tonight - the LADWP managed to get me in rare form - livid at what they were doing with the public on the heels of "Measure B". It would appear that the LADWP failed to grasp that “Measure B” did not pass. No matter how much money they put into it - the IBEW backed it, some greens backed it, it FAILED. And that is the same thing that they were putting out for public comment today - as it has been coined by my friend Mike Cohen - "Measure B Redux". The LADWP has hired a consulting firm to handle its public relations - boy, are they good. “Joan” who works for a "Public Participation Consulting Practice" opened the meeting. And as I looked at the Power Point, I saw why we needed to implement solar energy. "#1 - Global Warming" My first comment to "Joan", David Nahai, and his LADWP - along with our Mayor - please show us a little respect. This was a "Snow Job". The way the "Public Participation Consulting Practice" managed to design this forum is so that no one heard any public comment from the whole group. Randy Howard, the Resource Procurement Manager of the LADWP, gave a 20 minute presentation to the whole crowd which included a few Neighborhood Council Members, Al Abrams, the Vice Chair of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, and LADWP Commissioner Jonathan Parfrey. And when Mr. Howard stated that there would be No Questions from the whole audience - that questions would be answered in one of the three "Break Out Sessions" – I went into hyper mode. After the introduction of the Renewable Portfolio Standard in the main room, you had to choose from three “Break Out Sessions”, but only over two periods. So that meant that you missed one third of the public comment opportunity - depending on which room that you chose. In other words, while Jack Humphreville of "No on Measure B" and Mike Cohen of City Watch were in one room discussing the “Utility Built Solar” with Aram Benyamin of the LADWP, I was in the main room with the majority of the community members. This larger group was interested in the costs associated with putting solar on their own roofs or the “Sun Shares” program, where a group could join together to create a small local solar project that they would have “shares” in, which in turn, would reduce your LADWP rates. I could go on for hours pointing holes in the problems associated with the “400 MW solar plan” which is supposed to go on “City owned buildings and property”. Please do not lead me there. But for a brief glimpse, please envision any “City owned property” covered in solar panels or wind mills. They don’t have to be huge wind mills to produce energy. And you do not have to legally be notified of the project – unless you live within about 500 feet – or some similarly unreasonable distance. I can’t wait for some of these solar panels or wind mills to appear on the mountainsides along the 405 freeway – in view of all of the million dollar homes on the top. Randy - please - you told me tonight that you are an engineer. Do not give me the "the sun is free - the wind is free" speech. That was your very first mistake. Nothing that involves the production of energy is free in any manner. You discussed energy efficiency - but hey, you went to the "Al Gore speech" from "An Inconvenient Truth". "What will happen as the result of global warming?" “We will have rising tides, violent storms, more fires (we just had the "Station Fire", reduced water, and problems with energy reliability.” “A Consensus of Scientists” Do I hear a Nobel Prize here somewhere? First, Randy, we did not have time to cover the fact that I was on the committee to "Draft Al Gore" for President in 2008. I have a signed copy of Gore's "The Assault on Reason" - which is what you were trying to do tonight. And I blogged on the algore.org website. And did I fail to mention that my husband's text book talked about global warming BEFORE Al Gore made it popular? So this presentation was an insult to me and anyone with any “reasoning” capability. So the LADWP "Snow Job" was about reaching the greens that believe in global warming, or who want to save their energy costs, and they believe that putting solar on their roofs is the right way to go. And they were not given any answers to their questions. The whole LADWP Renewable Portfolio was discussed. But this discussion was not much different - just not as in depth, as the one that the LADWP Committee (members of the Neighborhood Council LADWP MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and LADWP Advocacy group, had in a presentation from David Nahai the General Manager of the LADWP on January 10, 2009. I cannot discuss here all of the issues that were put on the “Public Comment” papers that were in each room. So what I will conclude with is a few things that I stated – and others stated - at that meeting: - This process is bypassing the Neighborhood Councils which is a violation of the MOU. You should have taken this whole presentation to each Neighborhood Council.
- I see the “Sun Shares” Program as another “Bill Board 2” - another nightmare like the Neighborhood Councils trying to track the number and location of Bill Board and Cell Phone Towers. The Neighborhood Councils will now have to have “Hearings” on whether a “small solar project” should be put in the middle of the Sepulveda Basin or if wind mills should go in the Chatsworth Nature Preserve. The community members tonight thought that the projects should be kept local to lessen the impact on the desert (Sharon).
- The Federal, State, and local governments (City of Los Angeles and LADWP) all want their own “alternative energy projects, and each group is making their own plans without consulting the other.
- The LADWP “Green Path North” – which actually goes south to the Salton Sea, was essentially killed by Senator Feinstein’s protection of the desert ecosystem.
- Again, no costs are mentioned for any of the 5 projects that the LADWP plans to implement – yet – the plan is to get to 20 % renewable by 2010.
I will conclude with this message – “50 MW of Utility Built Solar by 2010”? The ink is just dry on the contract for the 55 watts of solar in the desert. That is a minimum 5 year project to go online. So please – to my green friends – I am for solar. I am for wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass. But these are all “New Technologies”, and their costs fluctuate. We need to know the real costs – to the rate payers – and on the environment. The overall message should be this one – as the countries like Spain and Germany implemented solar, they sold their “pollution credits” to countries like Poland. And Poland did not cut back as much on their coal. So for the European Nation, there was no overall reduction in green house emissions. And if you do not reduce your overall green house emissions, you cannot slow “global warming”.
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