Media Release: November 11, 2004
Contact: Albert Huang, (619) 235-0281

Power Plant Stalemate ends. SBPP will have to meet stringent standards.
Board reaches an agreement on new rules for permit after 4 years.

(San Diego) – For over 40 years, the South Bay Power Plant (SBPP) has devastated San Diego Bay’s ecosystem with thermal and chemical pollution, killing a wide range of fish and other sensitive marine life when it uses the Bay water in its cooling system and today the groundwork was laid to reduce these impacts.

The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) met today at their San Diego office to reach a decision on the conditions for a new water discharge permit for the South Bay Power Plant. With input from the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) and other San Diego Bay Council organizations, the RWQCB adopted new conditions for the renewal of the permit, which expired in 2000, for the power plant. Adoption of the new conditions for the permit ends four years of controversy over the permit renewal standards for the South Bay Power Plant. The Plant is operated by Duke Energy through a lease from the Port of San Diego

“The permit adopted today represents a compromise by all parties. It requires significant improvements to operations of the plant to protect the Bay but allows a full 3 years for Duke to come into compliance with the new standards. Given the significant damage that the power plant does to San Diego Bay this allowance by the Regional Board is a generous compromise,” commented Albert Huang, Policy Advocate for the Clean Bay Campaign from the EHC. “While we didn’t get everything that we wanted for the Bay and the public, we are willing to move forward under these conditions. We call on Duke to do the same and spend their resources on coming into compliance instead of further administrative or legal battles,” concluded Mr. Huang.

The permit passed the Board on a 5 to 1 vote with the industry representative being the dissenting voice. The permit will go into effect on January 1, 2005 and will be in place for 5 years. The permit sets new, more stringent limits and compliance regime that will come into effect in 3 years.

“The bottom-line to all of this is that the ultimate solution is to get rid of this antiquated power plant and develop new energy strategies that are less devastating to the environment. This will be more economical and more sustainable for the future.” Laura Hunter, Campaign Director for EHC’s Clean Bay Campaign

The plant’s effects are well documented, and the lack of concrete preventive actions is in clear violation of the intent of the law. In 2003, Dr. Richard Ford, a SDSU Professor Emeritus and local expert on San Diego Bay, released a report documenting the plant’s impact and recommended limitations on the plant’s discharge in order to protect the Bay. In 2004, Duke Energy, the operator of the plant, released its own studies on the impacts of the plant on the Bay. Both studies confirm that the SBPP kills a significant percentage of marine life that gets drawn into its cooling system or exposed to the chlorine or high temperatures of the plant’s discharges.

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