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Stop the Blythe Energy Project! California Energy Commission to Try and Railroad Blythe Energy Project Through by Hiding From Public CEC to Hold "Public Conference" Hundreds of Miles from Site of Proposed Power Plant Monday, March 5, 2001, 9
a.m. Greenaction and Community Vow to Stop Polluting Power Plant! For more information, contact:
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Statement of Greenaction for Health & Environmental Justice In Opposition to the Proposed Blythe Energy Project The California Energy Commission will hold a "Public Conference" on their Proposed Decision on the Blythe Energy Project over five hundred miles from the community that would live with the pollution from the power plant. The meeting will be held Monday, March 5, 2001 at 9 a.m. in Hearing Room A at the CEC, 1516 Ninth Street, Sacramento. Irate residents will call in to the CEC hearing to demand a Public Conference in Blythe and to oppose the power plant. Greenaction's Executive Director will attend the meeting to denounce the CEC's railroading of this application to pollute. Residents of the Blythe area, the Mesa Verde Organizing Committee and Greenaction are objecting to the CEC's denial of the request for a legitimate Public Conference to be held in Blythe. It is an insult to the public for the California Energy Commission to schedule a "public conference" many hundreds of miles from the impacted community, at a time and place they know very well almost no one who may be impacted by the project can attend. The CEC was in such a mad rush to railroad this project through without adequate or accurate environmental and public review that their staff report forget to notice the town of Mesa Verde was adjacent to the proposed power plant site. The primarily low-income and Spanish-speaking residents of Blythe and Mesa Verde may not be rich, but their health and well-being are priceless. The CEC's claim that the proposed power plant would have "No Significant Impact" flies in the face of reality. The "Finding of No Significant Impact" contradicts the admissions in the CEC's own studies that acknowledge emissions of pollutants, destruction of habitat for the desert tortoise, contamination of water that birds will forage in, and negative impacts on water supplies and agricultural areas. We call on the CEC to stop railroading this project through. The CEC must start accurately assessing all the facts about the potential impacts of this giant power plant proposal and start allowing true public participation in the process.
Statement of Greenaction to the California Energy Commission March 5, 2001 William Keese,
Chairman STATEMENT OF GREENACTION FOR HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN OPPOSITION TO THE PROPOSED BLYTHE ENERGY PROJECT The so-called "Public Conference" being held today by the California Energy Commission on the Proposed Decision on the Blythe Energy Project is a farce, and a violation of Title VI of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964. On behalf of our constituents in the Blythe area, we object to your denial of the request by the Mesa Verde Organizing Committee and Greenaction for a legitimate Public Conference to be held in Blythe. It is an insult to the public for the California Energy Commission to schedule a "public conference" many hundreds of miles from the impacted community, at a time and place you know very well almost no one who may be impacted by the project can attend. You may call having a Public Conference hundreds of miles from the community "fastracking", but we call it a railroad and a violation of the principles of democracy and environmental justice. The CEC was in such a mad rush to railroad this project through without adequate or accurate environmental and public review that your staff report forget to notice the town of Mesa Verde was adjacent to the proposed power plant site. Your claim that the proposed power plant would have "No Significant Impact" flies in the face of reality. Your "Finding of No Significant Impact" contradicts the admissions in your own studies that acknowledge emissions of pollutants, destruction of critical habitat for the desert tortoise, contamination of water that birds will forage in, and negative impacts on water supplies and agricultural areas. We call on the CEC to stop railroading this project through. The CEC must start accurately assessing all the facts about the potential impacts of this giant power plant proposal and start allowing true public participation in the process. We are further dismayed that the CEC did not provide the requested Spanish language translation of the proposed decision, as you have again excluded people who will be most impacted from being able to truly participate in this supposed public process. We must remind you that the CEC is subject to the mandates of Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, which prohibits the CEC from taking actions which have a discriminatory or disproportionate impact on communities of color and other low-income populations. It is time for the CEC to stop violating Title VI and CEQA, and reject this project. For health and environmental justice, Bradley Angel |