Council to Talk AES Redondo Beach at Meeting

On Tuesday night, the Redondo Beach City Council will once again consider a resolution opposing the construction of a new power plant to replace the current AES Redondo Beach generating station on North Harbor Drive in South Redondo Beach.

The council will also decide whether to appropriate $200,000 from the city's general fund to use in the city's role as an intervenor in the California Energy Commission's new power plant permitting process.

The current AES Redondo Beach plant must be retrofitted, retired, rebuilt or obtain special exemptions to continue operating beyond 2020 due to a new ban on once-through cooling, where ocean water is pumped into the plant to cool the superheated steam used to spin the turbines and generate electricity. Parent company AES Southland has indicated that it wishes to rebuild the plant and has submitted an application to do so with the CEC.

• Complete coverage: AES Redondo Beach Power Plant Debate

AES officials say the new plant will run more efficiently, have a smaller footprint and provide flexibility for the grid when energy from renewable resources isn't available.

Opponents, on the other hand, argue that the plant will continue to decrease property values and blight the waterfront, despite a $300 million revitalization effort. Additionally, they point to AES'  application and say a new plant will run more often than the current one, and thus produce five to 15 times more particulate pollution.

Tuesday will be the second time the council will consider a resolution opposing a new power plant. The council considered resolutions opposing the power plant in July 2012. A motion by councilman Matt Kilroy to use Mayor Mike Gin's proposed resolution did not receive a second. A second motion by Councilman Bill Brand to oppose any new power plant that would increase overall pollution in the area also did not receive a second.

At the March 19 meeting, the council indicated that it will consider an anti-power-plant resolution. Councilmen also asked city staff to look into a moratorium on new construction at the site—a possible first step to rezoning the land to disallow power generation.

Measure A, which was narrowly defeated at the polls in early March, would have rezoned the property to up to 40 percent commercial and institutional uses, with the rest designated parkland and open space.

The meeting's open session starts at 6 p.m. at the council chambers at Redondo Beach City Hall, located at 415 Diamond St. in South Redondo Beach. For those who can't attend, Redondo Beach Patch will live blog Tuesday night's meeting.

Correction: This article initially referred to a meeting in April 2012 where the council considered anti-power-plant resolutions; this has been changed to refer to a July 2012 meeting where the council did the same. Patch also neglected to mention that Bill Brand also motioned to oppose the power plant and did not receive a second. This has been corrected in the article text; we regret the error.