Civil Rights Complaint

See Also:

6/11/03 noon Protest and Press Conference at front gate of PG&E Hunters Point power plant, Evans Street, San Francisco. Protest violation of civil rights of Bayview Hunters Point residents by PG&E and state and federal agencies.

6/11/03 Press Release

The New Civil Rights Movement, by Marie Harrison

For more information, contact:

Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice	(415) 248-5010
Community First Coalition	(415) 468-8964
Community Advocates	(415) 671-2862
From the Ground Up	(415) 982-8043
Women' Energy Matters	(510) 915-6218

Residents and Community Groups Charge PG&E and Cal ISO With Civil Rights Violations

By Marie Harrison
Greenaction's Environmental Justice and
Green Energy Community Organizer

Residents and Community Groups filed a Civil Rights complaint today against PG&E and the California Independent System Operator (Cal ISO). The announcement was made in a press conference held in front of the PG&E's Hunters Point Power Plant. The complaint alleges that Cal ISO and PG&E have systematically discriminated against Bayview Hunters Point, a low-income community of color, by applying standards that subject residents to pollution from unnecessary fossil fuel generation. Because of the standards, Hunters Point Power Plant, located less than 50 feet from local homes, and near churches, schools and playgrounds continues to operate and threatens the health and well being of our families and community.

What is so discriminatory about this standard? The most obvious answer is that it does not ensure energy reliability just for San Francisco. In fact, the standard was set to ensure reliability for the Greater Bay Area, which stretches from San Francisco to Stockton on the east, and down to San Jose in the south, at the expense of our community. The "Greater Bay Area Generator Outage Standard" assumes that both Units 1 and 4 from Hunters Point Power Plant will be out at the same time along with 1 transmission line. This power will be replaced by new generation in the Southeast sector to ensure reliability for people across the state. We are not speaking about keeping the lights on in San Francisco. It benefits, as it says in its name, the Greater Bay Area, and we pay with the lives of our families and friends.

For more than a sixty years, Bayview Hunters Point and Potrero Hill have suffered the ill effects of pollution from two of the oldest power plants in the state. Residents of Southeast San Francisco are hospitalized for asthma, cognitive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and emphysema at three times the statewide average. Our children are taken daily to the emergency room for respiratory problems, skin rashes, and other illnesses related to the areas where they attend school, live and play. This is all in the name of electric reliability for San Francisco. On top of this, Bayview Hunters Points must deal with more than 300 known toxic sites that are awaiting cleanup, two superfund sites, and a sewage plant that emits noxious odors from an overburdened system that accepts 86% of the City's sewage and waste from Brisbane.

It occurs to me and other community folks that it is past time that we stop whispering about it, and crying about it, and take action. This is a Civil Rights action filed in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that protects individuals from discrimination on the basis of their race, color or national origin in programs that receive federal financial assistance. Since PG&E and Cal ISO both receive federal funds, they cannot discriminate against us. Approximately 30,000 people live in Bayview Hunters Point. Of this total 62% are African American, 21% are Asian, 9% are Hispanic and 8% are Caucasian. Most of these people have an income level significantly lower than other parts of San Francisco or the Greater Bay Area. They also suffer from an unreasonably high unemployment rate. Nearly 40% of Bayview Hunters Point residents have an income below $15,000 while only 20% of the City's population as a whole has an income that low. PG&E and Cal ISO are prohibited by Title VI from adding more injury to this already overburdened community-whether they do so by design or accident. We have on numerous occasions, without success, tried to make both parties aware of their discriminatory acts. This complaint is now being filed to formally charge both PG&E and Cal ISO with discrimination against our community.

Community residents and groups are asking the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity in the Department of Energy for the following relief:

1. 1. Require, that as a condition of continuing to provide federal financial assistance or benefits to the Cal ISO and PG&E, that they immediately discontinue the use of "The Greater Bay Area Generation Outage Standard" and adopt reasonable and nondiscriminatory grid reliability standards;
2. 2. Require that all planning based on "The Greater Bay Area Generation Outage Standard" be corrected to reflect reasonable and nondiscriminatory standards;
3. 3. Require that PG&E and Cal ISO provide timely notification to regulators, stakeholders, and community members of changes in grid reliability standards and there impact on planning;
4. 4. Require that PG&E and Cal ISO include present and projected energy savings from energy conservation and renewable energy programs in San Francisco, in any of their projections for future energy demand for the City.
5. 5. Require that Cal ISO immediately authorize the total shutdown of the PG&E Hunters Point Power Plan by 2004 at the latest;
6. 6. Require that proposed combustion turbine units ("peaker plants") not be sited in Bayview Hunters Point;
7. 7. Require Cal ISO not authorize the siting of Potrero Unit 7 and phase out Potrero Unit 3.

This compliant is our first shot over their bow. In the good old days it would have been the signal that all-out war had begun. This is a battle over our right to survive We aren't invading someone else's lands, or taking over their oil fields, or claiming that we are trying to save the world from weapons of mass destruction. We're not saying that it's for the good of the people-we are the people. It stops here. This is about our lives and our children. If our own government agencies won't protect us-we will take them on as well. We will never again allow others to profit from our miseries. It's time we were our own watchdogs--keeping a close eye on all those who would cause us harm.

The alarm has been sounded. The little guys, folks like you and I, are prepared to do battle. We all need to take a part. If people have no stake in the process-it means nothing to tear down that process. If we can't be stakeholders of our own destiny, no one else should be.

Residents filling on your behalf are Mr. Lynne Brown, Mr. Keith Tisdell, Mrs. Sharon Green-Peace, Ms. Caroline Washington and Ms. Tessie Ester.