Power plant must close

THE AGENCY THAT oversees California's power grid unexpectedly dealt a blow last month to San Francisco's efforts to shut down the filthy Hunters Point power plant. But the San Francisco Board of Supervisors shouldn't accept the Independent System Operator's conclusion and should demand that the state approve the plant shutdown.

The problem, as Rachel Brahinsky reported last week (see "Power Plant Row?" 4/2/03), is that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has so poorly designed the local electric system that it's hard to import much power from out of town. There's a power choke point at the city line – which means that much of what San Francisco uses has to be generated inside the city limits.

But preserving an aging and unreliable plant that has contributed to all sorts of health problems in the community is the wrong answer. What the city needs is a continued, aggressive conservation program to reduce demand, more alternative-energy sources to provide clean, environmentally sound supplies, and, most of all, a public power system that will maintain the grid and keep San Franciscans informed.

The grid problems underscore a key point about San Francisco's energy future: any plan that allows PG&E to continue to control the city's infrastructure is doomed to failure. Only a real full-scale public power move that involved the city taking over the grid can eliminate these endless and increasing problems. That ought to be the goal of the next public power initiative.

In the meantime, the supervisors need to pass a resolution informing the ISO that the Hunters Point plant must close. The city should make no move to site new peaker plants at Hunters Point or Potrero Hill until the supervisors hold investigative hearings and shine some light on the secret mess – and until residents get an iron-clad guarantee that the old Hunters Point plant will be shut down and the Mirant Corp. plant at Potrero Hill won't be expanded.