The Mirant power plant near San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood is a disgrace to a city that brands itself as a "green" city for the future. The old turbines that operate at the plant - three run on diesel, one on natural gas - have been spewing an unacceptable amount of filthy pollution for decades. Nearly everyone in the city agrees that the plant has been a major contributor to the disproportionate health woes of residents in San Francisco's eastern neighborhoods. The sooner it is shut down, the better.

But it makes no sense to shut down the old plants only to replace them with three new ones that will burn fossil fuels that contribute to global warming and create continued health hazards for the same neighborhood's long-suffering residents - for 30 long years. Regrettably, that's the only option before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Supervisors must reject it.

The plan before the board would close the four plants at Mirant and install three smaller "peaker" plants a few blocks away. The plan would cost an estimated $250 million. According to the plan's supporters, the three new plants would run at least 38 percent cleaner than the current ones and would be ready to go by 2010.

A 38 percent reduction is not acceptable. San Francisco must insist on a cleaner alternative - and pour as much political will and technical guile as needed to make it happen.

And the main benefit to approving this plan? "We know that the energy will be reliable, and we know that the plan is ready to go," Board President Aaron Peskin said.

Well, yes. But if San Francisco expects to live up to its reputation as a green city, it needs to start walking the walk. There's already so much needed work to bring the city up to speed - "In the 10-county Bay Area, San Francisco ranks last in terms of our solar power," said David Hochschild, a San Francisco Public Utilities commissioner. "And we have seriously underinvested in energy efficiency" - that it makes no sense to add to our carbon footprint by adding new plants.

We understand the frustration that has led Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, each of whom lives within sight of the plumes, to decide that the trade-off of the peakers' pollution is worth getting rid of the Mirant plant once and for all. "I don't want
the perfect to be the enemy of the good," Herrera said.

Still, alternatives to building these new plants do exist, if the supervisors and the mayor are seriously interested in pursuing them. And the final argument that many of the current plan's supporters have presented - that new plants are the only solution acceptable to state regulators - is dubious.

The California Independent System Operator "hasn't been presented with another plan outside of this one," said Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier. "San Francisco has never said to them, there are new models for grids and peakers, and we have another way to make this work."

Finding another way to make this work, of course, is going to take leadership - and here's where it's time for Mayor Gavin Newsom to start living up to his second-term promise to be "audacious," especially if he wants to earn his claim as a green mayor.

Newsom has been sitting on the fence on this critical issue.

A new transbay cable should help meet the city's energy demands in 2010. What else can be done to bring the city into compliance with regulators without building new, expensive, polluting plants? How much can we improve our energy efficiency? What about new strategies like reconductoring?

With leadership, tenacity and imagination, San Francisco can pursue alternatives that don't involve a $250 million, 30-year investment in a 20th century technology and the compromised health of a new generation of San Francisco residents. The residents of southeast San Francisco have held their breath long enough.


Make yourself heard at City Hall
E-mail for the Mayor

Gavin.Newsom@sfgov.org
E-mails for Supervisors

Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org

Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org

Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org

Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org

Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.org

Chris.Daly@sfgov.org

Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org

Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org

Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org

Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org

Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/12/EDFJ10JUPG.DTL