LWV to Host Forum on Measure A

Redondo Beach residents can learn more about Measure A at a free public forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Beach Cities at the Redondo Beach Main Library on Tuesday night.

If passed, Measure A will rezone the land owned by AES Southland on Harbor Drive in South Redondo Beach to a mixture of up to 40 percent commercial and institutional uses and at least 60 percent parkland and open space in an attempt to force the California Energy Commission to consider whether power from a rebuilt AES Redondo Beach power plant is needed for the state grid.

• Complete coverage: AES Redondo Beach Power Plant Debate | Redondo Beach 2013 Municipal Elections

The current natural gas power plant must be retired, retrofitted, repowered (rebuilt) or obtain special exemptions  to continue operating past 2020 due to a state ban on once-through cooling. Once-through cooling plants use ocean water to cool superheated steam that spins the turbines that generate electricity.

AES filed an application with the CEC in November to build a new power plant on the Harbor Drive property. The company asserts that a new plant will run cleaner, take up less space and provide the grid with needed flexibility for when energy from renewable resources is unavailable. Opponents of the power plant—including the authors of Measure A—contend that per AES' application to the CEC, the new plant will run more often and thus produce more particulate pollution annually than the current plant does. Additionally, opponents say that a new power plant will continue to depress property values and economic growth in the harbor area.

Tuesday's forum, which starts at 6 p.m., will feature presentations from Councilman Bill Brand, a co-author of Measure A; slow-growth activist and District 1 council candidate Jim Light, a co-author of Measure A; AES Southland president Eric Pendergraft; and AES Southland Project Director of Redevelopment Jennifer Didlo.

A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations.

Though the event starts at 6 p.m., the doors to the second-floor meeting room of the library will be open at 5:30 a.m. The forum is expected to last until 7:45 p.m.

The Redondo Beach Main Library is located at 303 N. Pacific Coast Hwy. in South Redondo Beach.

Redondo Beach Patch will live-blog the event. Check back at 6 p.m.