Grayson Dirty Energy GWP Meeting Report

The Glendale Water & Power Commission meeting last night was very well attended, with over 50 members of the public taking time out from their busy lives to oppose the Grayson dirty energy proposal and advocate for a cleaner Glendale. We had to wait over 2.5hrs to have our say, but when the time came, 21 people got up and spoke against the project in its current iteration, and not one member of the public spoke in favor of the proposed $500 million dollar expansion. My comments to the Commission are below. I was very moved by the sincerity and depth of knowledge of those who showed up.

Two big takeaways from the meeting for me were:

a) GWP's General Manager Steve Zurn admitted that this proposal is the result of lack of foresight from GWP a decade ago [video], when they could have foreseen the need for modest, phased upgrades to the plant to smoothly bridge the gap towards cleaner energy sources, but failed to act.

b) GWP's highly paid consultants ADMITTED they had not deeply studied many cleaner alternatives in their draft EIR [video], such as sites already controlled by the city of Glendale that could accommodate solar installations.

So the geniuses who didn't foresee the need for phased upgrades now propose throwing $500 million dollars away on a massive fossil fuel plant expansion right as cleaner, less expensive alternatives are becoming available. Inexcusable.

All of the Water & Power commissioners asked some good questions, particularly Roland Kedikian and Sarojini Lall. All of the commissioners saw the need for upgrades to Grayson, but questioned the size of the GWP proposal in the face of projected energy needs. Everyone seemed baffled by GWP's failure to include cleaner alternatives in a diversified matrix of solutions instead of one giant outdated fossil fuel plant.

If you didn't make it out to last night's meeting, there is another meeting on Thursday, October 19th. Also, please e-mail the members of the Glendale City Council and and ask them to do what LADWP did and commission an independent study of cleaner alternatives. The public also has until 11/3 to submit comments to Erik Krause in the City Planner’s office: ekrause@glendaleca.gov

my comments:

Please watch Daniel Brotman's point by point takedown of the rationale given by GWP:

Full video of the meeting is here: http://glendale.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=17&clip_id=6426

Some highlights:
0:00-1:18 draft EIR presentation
1:18 questions from commissioners begin
1:45 stranded asset questions
1:48 retirement age of boilers question from kedikian
1:49 "should have planned for this 20 years ago" answer from Zurn
2:05 discussion of lack of alternative energy analysis
2:13 discussion of projected capacity vs need, and excess capacity
2:16 "balancing this out" comments from avanessian
2:24 public comment begins with a thorough takedown of the proposal from Professor Daniel Brotman
2:42 me
....lots more speakers...
then
3:23-3:34 additional comments from commissioners
3:35 oral communications, 1 additional speaker against






Previously: Don't Let GWP Increase Air Pollution in Glendale

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A History of Presidential Visits to Glendale*

President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at Dreamworks Animation in Glendale today. Inspired by a rare presidential visit to the Jewel City, here's a list of documented visits to Glendale made by Presidents of the United States. If I'm missing any, please let me know:

President Barack Obama, 2010 and 2013

In 2010, President Obama did a radio interview in the Unum Building in downtown Glendale. He is scheduled to speak at Dreamworks Animation today.

*11/27/13 Update: Here are my photos of Marine One and support helicopters over Glendale on 11/26/13. Here's a write-up of Obama's visit from Bret Marnell, an editor at Dreamworks.

President Bill Clinton, 1996

In 1996, President Clinton spoke at Glendale Community College and had lunch at the Rocky Cola Cafe in Montrose afterward. In 1992, while President-elect, Clinton stopped in Glendale to shop at the Glendale Galleria.

President Gerald Ford, 1976

Ford stopped by the Days of the Verdugos festival and spoke in front of Glendale City Hall.

President Harry Truman, 1948

Truman made a brief campaign speech in Glendale during his successful 1948 re-election campaign.

President Herbert Hoover, 1932

The earliest record I could find of a presidential visit to Glendale was made by Herbert Hoover, who visited the Jewel City in 1932. Looks like he's having a great time!

Visits by Presidents to Glendale that were not made during their term:

Richard Nixon, 1952, 1956, 1962

In 1956, then Vice President Richard Nixon made an Ike-Dick campaign stop in Glendale. In this photo he's speaking from the steps of Glendale City Hall. Nixon apparently also visited Glendale as a vice-presidential candidate in 1952, and campaigned in Montrose during his unsuccessful 1962 gubernatorial run.

Ronald Reagan, 1940 and 1966

In 1940, Ronald Reagan married actress Jane Wyman in Glendale at Forest Lawn's Wee Kirk of the Heather church. In 1966, Reagan visited Forest Lawn again, this time as governor of California.

If I'm missing any other documented visits, please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

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