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Stop the Blythe Energy Project! Demand Green and Clean Energy Policies! As California Energy Commission Attempts to Railroad Approval of Blythe Energy Project Without Proper Review, Greenaction and Latino Community Fight Proposed Plant that threatens the air, water and farmworker jobs. Call the California Energy Commission and the Blythe Energy Project and tell them to stop the proposed power plant. Tell them you join the community in demanding environmental justice for Mesa Verde and Blythe! California Energy Commission Blythe Energy Project Read the Press Coverage: Riverside Press-Enterprise, 3/14/01 See Also: For more information, contact:
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Community and Greenaction Fight Polluting Proposed Plant! Latino Communities and Greenaction Fight Polluting Power Plant Proposed Near Blythe and Mesa Verde, California Community Protests, Speaks Out, and Accuses California Energy Commission of Environmental Racism and Violation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act Blythe, CA -- Over 150 residents of Mesa Verde and Blythe united in a community rally on March 13, 2001 to protest the proposed Blythe Energy Project power plant. Residents are overwhelmingly in opposition to the proposed plant which will emit pollutants, use large quantities of scarce water resources, and threaten the jobs of farmworkers in the area. After a spirited rally at Todd City Park, protesters marched into the Blythe City Council meeting, chanting and demanding an end to the project. Co-sponsors of the rally included the Mesa Verde Organizing Committee, the United Farm Workers Union, Escuela de la Raza Unida, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice and the Glen Canyon Action Network. The Blythe Energy Project hopes to build a large 520 megawatt natural gas power plant near the low-income farmworker community of Mesa Verde and Blythe. The fact that Mesa Verde exists as a town was left out of the California Energy Commissionās (CEC) staff report on the project, and no hearings have been held in Mesa Verde by the government. Residents believe the CECās attempt to railroad the project through without adequate or accurate environmental review is an act of environmental racism and injustice and a violation of civil rights and human rights. "Our community has been overlooked because the government and company think we donāt count because many residents are low-income and donāt speak English," said Maria Luisa Garcia, local resident and President of the Mesa Verde Organizing Committee. "We are determined to stop this power plant so we can protect our health, our jobs and our community from this pollution threat." "The United Farm Workers are against the power plant because our members work just a few hundred yards from the site and live nearby" said Manuel Soto, President General of the UFW local in Blythe, representing the workers at Coachella Growers. "We are well aware the pollution to be emitted into the air can cause sickness and will impact the oranges and lemons grown nearby and will threaten water supplies." The Blythe Energy Project has already initiated accumulating water for the proposed plant, denying the nearby orchards adequate water supply. The CEC has made the controversial decision that there would be "no significant impact" from the plant despite the fact that the plant would emit large quantities of pollutants into the air in an area that is already in violation of State standards for ozone and particulates. Adding insult to injury, the CEC held a public conference on their proposed approval of the project on March 16 in Sacramento, over six hundred miles from the community that would be polluted and impacted by the power plant. One dozen Mesa Verde and Blythe residents drove 12 hours through the night to attend the meeting in Sacramento. At a press conference before the CEC meeting, residents and Greenaction blasted the proposed power plant, and denounced the Energy Commission for failing to accurately or adequately review the project and for effectively excluding the Spanish-speaking community from truly participating in the review process. Residents announced that with the help of Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment they had filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Energy alleging that the California Energy Commission had violated their civil rights by taking action in support of the power plant that would have a discriminatory and disproportionate impact on the low-income Latino residents who live and work near the proposed plant site. |