Features

SAN JOSE – In an effort to ease this summer’s promised power drain, state energy officials are pushing for approval of a proposed power plant in San Jose’s Coyote Valley, despite recommendations that other sites may be more environmentally suitable, a newspaper reported Sunday. 

California Energy Commission top administrators undermined a negative environmental assessment of the project and recommended approval of Calpine Corp.’s Metcalf Energy Center over other sites, the San Jose Mercury News found, citing internal documents and transcripts obtained through a California Public Records Act request. 

But commission deputy director Bob Therkelsen denied any impartial dealings concerning the plant. 

“I would not deny that some of the staff have strong feelings,” Therkelsen said . “But I think the process allowed all perspectives to be heard.” 

San Jose City Council opposes the project because the city had planned to save the property for high-tech campuses. 

Commission administrators and attorneys directed an analyst to downplay other sites’ advantages and quieted him at a hearing when he tried to voice his concerns over the pressure that prompted him to alter his findings, the newspaper found. The commission also reversed a third analyst’s recommendation that Calpine obtain a contract for recycled water prior to construction, which could have slowed building the plant. 

A 574-page Preliminary Staff Assessment released in May identified other more “environmentally preferable” sites, including two industrial sites in Fremont. 

Therkelsen said the report was a premature draft that changed as more information became available. 

“I was concerned that the alternatives were being portrayed more optimistically than realistically,” Therkelsen said. 

Analyst Gary Walker, a 21-year veteran, reported other plant sites would be more suitable, but was later told his report was full of “bias” and “inconsistencies,” the newspaper reported. 

In an e-mail, senior commission attorney Arlene Ichien said Metcalf must be cast in a better light or it would be hard for the commission to grant approval. 

“Staff is building a strong case for finding the alternative sites feasible,” Ichien wrote. 

In a report last fall, Walker’s discussion of other sites’ advantages was ultimately replaced by a warning that the Silicon Valley is at risk for blackouts unless Metcalf is built. 

The final report recommended approval. 

Another analyst was told to change his report about how much noise the plant would create and the amount of insulation needed to quiet it, the newspaper reported. The analyst was taken off the project, and the final assessment released last October said insulation was not necessary because of the few homes near the plant. 

The five-member commission is expected to make its decision this summer during the power crisis’ peak load. There is a push to build power plants in the technology-dominated Silicon Valley, which imports most of its electricity. The plant would use 3 million to 6 million gallons of water a day, but with San Jose officials opposed to the plant, it is unclear where that water would come from. 

Calpine and its development partner, Bechtel Enterprises, wants the plant operating by 2002.