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March 23, 2001 Mayor Ron Gonzales Re: Metcalf Energy Center Power Project/Calpine Corporation Commission Docket Number: 99-AFC-3
Members of the California Energy Commission, good evening, and welcome once again to San Jose. I am Ron Gonzales, Mayor of San Jose. I am here to represent the San Jose City Council and the residents of our community regarding the proposal from the Calpine Corporation to build the Metcalf Energy Center in our city. On behalf of the City Council and the residents of our neighborhoods, I urge the Commission to deny Calpine’s application for its Metcalf Energy Center and to direct the company to seek a better and more compatible site that will benefit our community, our environment, and our economy. Tonight’s hearing is the last in a long series of formal meetings that began in January this year, and it concludes an even longer period of community outreach and analysis that started well over a year ago. I appreciate the serious consideration that you and the staff of the Commission have given to this proposal and to the concerns of our community. Regardless of your decision in the next several months, your hard work, patience, and sheer endurance throughout this process is commendable. I also commend the other participants involved in this process, especially the residents of our city who have given so much time from their lives and families over the past two years to protect the neighborhoods of San Jose. Their effort has been focused on protecting the quality of life in our city, but it truly has been on behalf of all residential neighborhoods in every city throughout California. Their grassroots involvement has been remarkable; it has been concentrated, sustained, and thorough. Our residents have demonstrated the highest standard of civic conduct that is an excellent model for every community that may be at risk from inappropriate projects proposed in unsuitable locations. On November 28, 2000, the San Jose City Council unanimously denied the request from Calpine Corporation to change our City’s land use designations that would be necessary to allow the proposed Metcalf Energy Center to be located in North Coyote Valley in San Jose. We understand that California faces immediate critical energy challenges. These are the result of poor public and private energy policy decisions, the unintended consequences of deregulation, and utility mismanagement. These are serious issues, and the rolling blackouts that have affected residents and businesses in every corner of the state this winter are stark reminders of what may be in store for us. These very same power outages this week, however, underscore the fact that the energy problems that California is trying to solve today are not just a matter of energy supply or generating capacity. They are systemic problems that will not be solved by symbolic or simple actions.
These facts all point to the underlying policy, management, and financial matters that must be solved in order for California to meet its energy needs. Albert Einstein once said, "The problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." What I fear, however, are hasty decisions that are being made about energy policy, environmental and neighborhood protection, and land use – decisions that are being made in an atmosphere of panic, ignorance, and pressure. What I fear is a rush to settle on the answer to the problem before we have rationally understood what the real question is. What I fear, on behalf of our community, are the consequences of wrong decisions that we all will have to live with for decades – decisions made in a desperate effort to be seen doing something, anything, to respond to a crisis. Our responsibility as the City Council for San Jose is to make good land use decisions for the long-term well being of our community. This is a fundamental obligation of every city council in every California city. I should say, land use planning is our first duty as a city, and one that is embedded in the California Constitution under the basic concept of home rule. As I have said many times before as Mayor of San Jose – and I know every one of my City Council colleagues agrees with me – protecting San Jose neighborhoods and residents, now and in the future, is one of our highest priorities. As a matter of good land use planning, the Santa Teresa neighborhood is not an appropriate location for Calpine’s proposed 600-megawatt power plant. The impacts of this large power plant at this proposed site would harm the quality of life for San José residents. Based on data from the Commission’s own staff and using the analysis by our City planning staff, the San Jose City Council made a unanimous decision to deny the requested General Plan Amendment, Prezoning/Rezoning, and Annexation for the proposed site of the Metcalf Energy Center. We came to this conclusion for the following reasons:
I agree with Governor Davis, the California Legislature, and the Energy Commission that we must work together to ensure that there are adequate and reliable energy supplies for California and Silicon Valley. I agree that this is a critically important priority for the residents, businesses, and the future economy of our region and our state. I agree that we must address our energy needs through good state and regional planning that balances new energy supplies, more effective conservation, and innovative generation, transmission, and distribution solutions. This is why I have proposed our San Jose and Silicon Valley Smart Energy Plan. This plan calls for regional collaboration among cities to locate new small and large clean power plants in suitable locations that do not negatively affect residential neighborhoods. This plan calls for greater energy conservation, energy efficiencies, and alternative energy sources that will lead to greater self-sufficiency and greater system reliability in Silicon Valley. This plan calls for partnerships not only among cities but also with the private sector and with the state and federal governments. Just one week ago, mayors of 11 Silicon Valley cities and the chair of the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors signed a mutual statement of purpose at our Silicon Valley Energy Summit. We heard last week of the serious commitments that are being made by our local cities to be part of the energy solution by finding appropriate locations for energy generation, and for greater conservation. And they pledged their commitment to continue this collaborative effort to make Silicon Valley a model for the other regions of the state to develop good solutions that make regional sense, that will support our economy, and continue to protect our neighborhoods and environment. At the summit, we shared information about our own activity in San Jose, where we are moving ahead aggressively to develop energy generation projects on appropriate locations already owned by the City of San Jose. I was very pleased to have such a strong and positive response at the energy summit, and I look forward to working with Silicon Valley communities to achieve the goal of greater energy self-sufficiency. The summit made it clear that the solution to the energy challenge for California and Silicon Valley requires multiple solutions and creative approaches, and that no single power plant will be the answer. Even though you have heard from many organizations urging you to approve the Metcalf Energy Center, remember – none of these groups is responsible for our city’s neighborhoods. None of them has the obligation or authority to make good land use decisions. But all of them should know that no single power plant, regardless of its size or location, will be a determining factor for meeting the state’s needs for power system reliability and capacity – certainly not this year, and certainly not even over the next several years. The Commission has already approved new generation projects that are underway in California that will increase the state’s generating capacity by more than 6300 megawatts over the next two years. This is a large increment already in progress, and it represents a 15 percent increase in the state’s total capacity. It is equivalent to more than ten Metcalf power plants. And these plants will be online, ready to generate electricity, well before the Metcalf project could be built and in service. In order for the Commission to override the land use decision of San Jose, or of any city, you must make a credible finding of "public necessity and convenience." I don’t think you can do that, based on the projected new generation capacity that is already under construction. I don’t think you can make that finding for a project that has absolutely no bearing on the current California energy mess, and that will not come into service until years after other capacity is completed. Even if Metcalf could in an instant be placed in operation today, it would not have prevented the rolling blackouts in Silicon Valley or California We must be sure that the people living in San José neighborhoods, or in any community in California, do not bear the unfair burden of the harmful environmental consequences that would come by placing huge power plants in residential neighborhoods. Any site considered for potential power plants must therefore meet the essential criteria for protecting neighborhoods and the environment. Your own staff assessment has determined that there are several alternative sites that would not have Metcalf’s environmental or land use flaws. This also should lead you to deny the application. If a practical site for a power plant truly needs to be identified in or near our community, San Jose is committed to working with the CEC and other interested parties to achieve this goal. We are completely willing to help find sites that are appropriate to ensure that any power plant will not have a negative impact on the environment or on our residential neighborhoods. We all receive important benefits from an adequate and reliable power system, and our city therefore will continue to work collaboratively with the CEC, our neighboring communities, and other interested parties to find acceptable solutions for addressing our energy needs. Although I am here to represent the City Council and residents of San Jose, I also believe I can fairly represent the concerns of cities throughout California that have the proper authority and responsibility for making local land use decisions. The California Energy Commission has never made a decision to overrule local land use requirements to the extent that would be required for this project. You have licensed nine major power plants in the past two years without local land use resistance because those projects were in suitable locations. The Metcalf Energy Center in San Jose, however, is a much different matter. The magnitude of this project, its proximity to residential neighbors, and the number and severity of its inconsistencies with our City laws and regulations dictate against a CEC override of our constitutional land use authority. I appreciate the Commission’s long commitment to give great weight to local land use policies, and its traditional and appropriate respect for the serious concerns of local communities. If the Commission were to break this precedent now, it would signal a radical change in CEC policy and practice to all California cities that must worry about the erosion of their land use authority. This would be very unfortunate and counterproductive. I expect it could lead to greater controversy, complications, and delays for solutions for meeting the projected power needs of California. The state and its cities must continue to be partners in these solutions, not adversaries. The stakes are too high, and we must work together for the results our residents and businesses demand and deserve. On behalf of the City Council of San José and the residents of our neighborhoods, I urge the Commission to deny Calpine’s application for its Metcalf Energy Center and to direct the company to seek a better and more compatible site that will benefit our community, our environment, and our economy. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to your decision that will be good for the people of San Jose and for California.
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