MIRANT WILL NOT GO AWAY WITH OR WITHOUT RELIABILITY MUST RUN AND CAISO

At the December 15, 2003 Finance and Audits Committee held at Room 263 with Chris Daly as the Chair and Aaron Peskin and Sophie Maxwell being present some important Environmental Justice Project and Issues were discussed. As usual Sophie Maxwell made a fool of herself. Mirant Power Plant was formerly owned by Pacific Gas and Electric. When Mirant opted to buy this plant the City and County could have opted to run it but it did not. Now the City and County of San Francisco want Mirant to go away - just like many Environmental Advocates that do not take money from San Francisco Environment (SFE) want San Francisco Environment to go away. We also want the Mayor's Office of Economic Development to go away and the Director of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to fade away into oblivion. Simply put they are corrupt and cannot be trusted. Jared Blumenfeld and the Budget Analyst Office Harvey Rose were arguing as to how San Francisco Environment spends its money. As far as I see SFE it is the most corrupt City Department that has done injustice to the constituents of Bayview Hunters Point in particular and the constituents of San Francisco in general. Failed on Environmental Issues and adversely impacted thousands all over San Francisco. Organization like Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), the Bayview Hunters Point Advocates, Arc Ecology, all have received million dollar grants from SFE. Again and again when these organizations were audited so many accounting discrepancies were found that it has opened a can of worms and tarnished the name of those advocates like Espanola Jackson, Lynne Brown, Maurice Campbell, Kevin Williams, Sam Murray, Francisco Da Costa - who have not got one single cent from the City and County of San Francisco in the form of grants and can stand tall and speak the truth. Communities for Better Environment (CBE ) and Green Action have chosen to take Mirant to court at the behest of SFE and the City and County of San Francisco. These organizations stopped the expansion of Mirant without having any meaningful dialog with the community. This is wrong. We have other like Steve Moss and Joe Boss who have got money either by acting as Intervenors and in the case of Steve Moss getting $1.5 million as a grant from SFE and then opting to become a Cooperative and using the grant money for purposes which were not clearly spelt out by SFE. We have Sophie Maxwell who acted as head of the group that disbursed the grants and saw that Enola Maxwell Middle School got millions of dollars. This is despicable. Enola Maxwell now deceased is her mother and was alive when the grants were given to Enola Maxwell. Saul Bloom from Arc Ecology and Dana Lanza do not live in the community. These two White folks make money at the cost of the community - mostly adversely impacted and people of color. Time for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to step in and put a stop to all the nonsense that is going on with San Francisco grants. Recent changes mandate that organization that get over $250,000 open their Board Meetings to the Public. Also, encourage community members to join their Board. I hope this comes about. It is a shame that in the name of Environmental Justice some folks are using to the plight of the poor people and statistics from toxins and other pollution issues to make money. It is a pity that Karen Pierce and Olin Webb will aid the folks that exploit the community in the Bayview Hunters Point. These two Blacks have sold out the community and continue to work closely with Sophie Maxwell. Time and time again we have seen some Blacks try to make deals with the owner of the toxic piles at Pier 94 - Specialty Crushing. We have seen them try to make deals and fail with the toxic pile at Pier 92. We have seen them sell out the community and take money from PG&E when they took to take PG&E to court. Again and again they pretend to speak out and make waves then position themselves to get money from grants and other dubious sources and exploit the community. Recently they have got money from Lennar. Among them a Community Based Organization that pretend to know the in and outs of construction. Most recently they have done it with Lennar BVHP LLC the most corrupt developer that has a history of building homes on toxic dumps. You have Olin Webb vouching for Lennar and Lennar will never ever have decent people vouching for them mostly - mostly people on the take as was exposed to the Public by Supervisor Chris Daly at a Board of Supervisors meeting. From time to time California Independent Systems Operators hold meetings. Some of them at Folsom and some of them right here at 77 Beale in San Francisco. I make it a point to attend the meetings and if I do not attend the meeting - then read the minutes that are provided. If I need further information I can get it from the various experts who are willing to share. I have never seen the City and County represented. I have never seen the present inept San Francisco Public Utilities Commission energy players present. Never seen Barbara Hale present at one of these meetings. What I have seen and heard is Barbara Hale bad mouth the CAISO at the last Energy Task Force created by Sophie Maxwell. Sophie Maxwell is dumb, inept, ignorant, and very arrogant. I would say the same of Susan Leal who has no idea most of the time what she is talking about. It is wrong to site any Combustible Turbines (CT) using fossil fuel anywhere in San Francisco. Simply foolish to use fossil fuel which is very, very expensive. Added to these use secondary effluents that in simple terms is treated sewage to cool the CTs. So far the City and County of San Francisco has spent over a $250,000 just for storing the CTs some where in Texas. Before we know it the SFPUC will waste another $1 million and I tell you the CTs will not be place anywhere in the Southeast Sector in the near future. Treasure Island owes the SFPUC over $ 12 million - dues from drinking water and energy costs. In any other situation the Director would be fired - here we have a so-called fiscal expert - former Treasurer of the City and County of San Francisco - trying to figure out a way for the Treasure Island Development Authority to pay back. This will not happen easy. By the way I remember Olin Webb, Karen Pierce, Dana Lanza vouching for Mark Leno's and Sophie Maxwell proposed State Bill AB 1187 - which Ahimsa Sumchai, Andrew Bozeman, and Francisco Da Costa killed by going to Sacramento and confronting such a stupid bill. Sophie has never ever worked for the community she has always worked to fill her own pockets. It is amazing how Sophie Maxwell praises Susan Leal. Susan Leal is the most inept SFPUC Director that I have seen explain or address any issue of importance at the SFPUC. She surrounds herself with Barbara Hale who cannot explain simple issues on Energy. Again and again I have seen Barbara Hale talk and again and again she has misspoken. Mirant will stay in place much after 2010 and beyond. Hopefully with the Jefferson-Martin Transmission line in place in 2006. A transmission line between Mirant and the present Hunters Point in place in 2007 we will be able to close down Hunters Point in 2008. The proposed under the Bay Transmission Line from Pittsburgh to Mirant is a viable plan that should be considered. SFPUC knows little about this. I am requesting CAISO to put in place a plan to decommission the Hunters Point power plant. We do not want letters sent to Sophie Maxwell - she has been recalled twice and the third time will be a charm. We want a Public Process and a Public Statement. This inept so woman does not represent the constituents of San Francisco and the Bayview Hunters Point in particular. As part of this statement Environmental Justice Issues and Projects should be mentioned with action items and time lines. All stated as clearly as possible. It is imperative that CAISO incorporated empirical data from the Housing Element, the Transportation Document, future needs assessment linked to City Planning that is available from Sacramento. We cannot continue to building thousands of homes and housing units and dream that the energy will come from outer space. Solar and Solar Bonds have loopholes with SFPUC at the helm of affairs. SFPUC has no direction especially with Edward Smeloff gone. Susan Leal is facing a Tsunami and does not even know it. It is time the owner of Mirant Power Plant and Pacific Gas and Electric look at all energy issues with a Holistic Plan in mind. Gone are the days when knowing that PM-10 and other toxins kill infants - we encourage the spewing of toxins in the air, land and in water. This must stop. We have the best minds and we can bring about the best plans before the people and follow the Precautionary Principle. We can discuss and implement holistic plans - simply because we cannot afford to do the opposite.

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