by The Editors on January 26, 2010
Wolfram Kalber has big ideas for Carlsbadistan. And he’s not one who simply dreams things up and lets them sit. Through his company Wolf Design Build he has designed and built homes in many different styles, but they all feature a creative groove that makes them quite unlike anything that’s been done before.
Kalber’s most recent work in Carlsbadistan is the $17 million Kiko Beach House on Ocean St. which we last featured in our 12 Days of Carlsbadistan Christmas. Now, Kalber and David Evans have some ideas for the Encina Power Station property. It’s called The Peoples Sunset Terrace Pavillion & Amphitheater. The structure which houses a Carlsbad Cultural Center and Recreation Center, looks somewhat like Denver’s DIA airport.
Kalber says he is meeting with the Mayor to discuss this and another design for the triangle lawn at Offshore, but we’re guessing this will fly well over Mayor Lewis’ head. Everything else aside, it’s good to know someone is thinking way, way outside the box when it comes to Carlsbadistan’s future.
[Link: Wolf Design Build]
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by The Editors on February 19, 2009
The City of Carlsbadistan is now getting anti-power plant support from the California Department of Transportation according to a letter sent to the California Energy Commission on February 5, 2009.
As stated in the letter, Caltrans’ flexibility to construct the I-5 North Coast Corridor widening project is severely limited by surrounding land uses. The impetus is on NRG West, the power plant company, to demonstrate how the area can accommodate both a widened freeway and a new power plant. The letter also states that the I-5 widening project will remove existing landscaping and berm, creating significant visual impacts should both projects go forward.
We can’t help but laugh to ourselves at the ecological irony in the letter. This is probably the first time in our lives that we’ve wanted to make sure there was enough room to add more lanes to an already monstrous freeway. It’s almost like the pavers are the good guys if they keep another power plant out of Carlsbadistan.
Follow the jump for the entire release from the City.
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by The Editors on January 26, 2009
The City of Carlsbad City Council is getting more and more serious about its opposition to NRG’s proposed second power plant. They’re even planning to vote on something:
The Carlsbad City Council will vote on a resolution finding that the second power plant proposed by NRG, called the Carlsbad Energy Center Project violates key city laws, regulations and plans at the regularly scheduled council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the council chambers, 1200 Carlsbad Village Dr. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
Sadly, the city has no control over whether the plant gets approved or not, but it’s nice to see them going down with a fight. Follow the jump for the rest of the release. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 9, 2008
The City of Carlsbad has thrown in the towel on plans to help NRG find a different location for their proposed powerplant, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
In a letter to NRG Vice President Tim Hemig, Carlsbad municipal projects manager Joe Garuba wrote: “Carlsbad believes that our coastline is a precious resource and it is not an appropriate location for industrial land uses.” . . . Without NRG’s cooperation, “the city recognizes that its individual efforts (to find an alternative site) are meaningless,” Garuba added. . . A copy of the letter, dated Dec. 1, was sent to the state energy commission.
Seems the industrialization of the lagoon will continue, sadly.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on September 19, 2007
NRG Engergy, the company that owns Carlsbad’s tallest structure (and our favorite building in Carlsbadistan) has asked state officials if it can turn up the power output knob on the Encina Powerplant to increase it by 200 megawatts by summer 2010.
Three older units — each of about 100 megawatts capacity and built as long ago as 1954 — will be retired and replaced by newer, more efficient gas-fired units, NRG said. . . Two other existing units, built in the mid-1970s, will remain in operation at the plant.
The company says the units will be 30 percent more efficient and be “well below California’s newly imposed greenhouse gas standard,” NRG will also rename the plant the Carlsbad Energy Center. Locals say Encina. . .
[Link: Reuters]
by The Editors on May 11, 2010
Last week the California State Water Resources Control Board voted to protect sea life by phasing out “once-through cooling for seaside power plants” like Carlsbadistan’s iconographic Encina Power Station because the process “kills more than 2.6 million fish and 19 billion fish larvae annually,” according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“It will have the result of retiring a very high portion of the coastal, once-through cooled power plants,” said Steve Hoffmann, regional president for NRG Energy, which owns the Carlsbad facility. . . “We have to conform with this new water policy by the end of 2017,” Hoffmann said. “We either have to put in closed-loop cooling, or we have to have a way of screening marine life from our intake, which is technically very difficult.”
Maybe they could just dismantle the entire plant and ship it to Arizona. . . leaving the tower, of course. . .
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on April 25, 2010
The Surfrider Foundation has definitely not thrown in the town on their opposition to the Poseidon Resources Desalination Plant scheduled to be built in the shores of Carlsbadistan’s Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
The environmental group filed a lawsuit on Earth Day (April 22, 2010) challenging a permit approved by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Surfrider says that the “facility would kill countless marine organisms, with an illegal plan to replace these fish and other marine life through a restoration project somewhere else.”
“When the law says you must ‘minimize the intake and mortality’ of marine life, that doesn’t mean you can kill millions of marine organisms and then try to replace them somehow,” said Joe Geever, Surfrider Foundation’s California Policy Coordinator. “The Regional Water Quality Control Board misinterpreted the law, and it’s unfortunate the project has progressed this far without a final decision on the type of intake and facility design that meets California’s law to protect our precious marine environment.”
According to Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune this is one of six lawsuits that have been filed regarding Poseidon’s plans for the lagoon. Three are still progress.
For the entire Surf Rider release, follow the jump or click here for Carlsbadistan’s coverage of the entire saga.
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by The Editors on March 10, 2010
Volunteers will be planting flowers in the Village of Carlsbadistan on Friday March 12, 2010 according to Carlsbad Farmer’s Market Manager Christy Johnson.
We’ll be going around the Village and planting beautiful spring flowers in pre-selected planter boxes that need some TLC! This is slightly physical and slightly messy…so come prepared. . . .If you can’t make it to plant the flowers…Sponsor a flower for $1 each. You can pay at the Farmers’ Market Wed. 3/10 from 1-5pm, 2930 Roosevelt Street or call Christy the Farmers Market Manager at 760-687-6453.
The Village could use a little flower power. . .
by The Editors on November 4, 2009
We keep hearing it referred to as the “last hurdle” and we’re saddened that Poseidon Resources has made it this far, but the California Coastal Commission finally granted a permit that will allow the company to build the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere in our lagoon, according to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
With the Coastal Commission permit in hand, Poseidon has met all its regulatory requirements — two years after the Coastal Commission conditionally approved the plant. Poseidon had to satisfy 17 permit requirements before it could begin construction. . . . Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon Resources’ senior vice president, said the coastal permit requires that construction begin in less than two weeks. He said the company next week will start clearing the site, on the grounds of the Encina Power Station on the south shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
Now all Poseidon needs is the money to build the plant. They’ need $530 million in financing, $50 million of it from a bond they’re asking the State of California for, according to a story in the North County Times.
State revenue bonds are tax-exempt, which typically allows them to sell for a lower interest rate than for taxable bonds. This lowers the cost for those repaying the bonds; in this case, the local water agencies the desalination plant will serve.
The company is also asking for a $250 per acre foot subsidy from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (which, according to Food & Water Watch could add up to $14 million a year). Nothing like launching a private business on federal and state subsidies, huh?
For more on some of the reason this plant might not be a good idea, click here for the word from Food & Water Watch.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune and North County Times]
by The Editors on October 17, 2009
This Tuesday, October 20, 2009 the Carlsbadistan City Council will be considering the passage of a moratorium on coastal power plants to prevent NRG from putting in its proposed second power plant on the Encina Power Station property, according to a release sent out by the City of Carlsbad.
If passed, this action would prohibit a second power plant proposed by NRG, requiring the state to overrule the city if the plant is to be approved. . . Also under the resolution, no development application will be accepted, processed or approved that would expand the size, location, generating capacity or use of the Encina Power Station for the duration of the moratorium. . . . The resolution under consideration would establish an emergency ordinance on the building or expanding of power plants on Carlsbad’s coast, meaning it would go into effect immediately and could last for up to two years.
Anything that slows the industrialization of the Aqua Hedionda Lagoon is fine by us, but why stop at the power plant? Why not throw in a little rider prohibiting a desalination plant as well? No harm in that really.
Follow the jump for the entire release.
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