Senator pushes power plant, threatens college district with audit
A state senator from Los Angeles – and candidate for superintendent of public Instruction – is demanding that a Bay Area community college stop fighting the planned construction of a natural gas power plant near campus.
Photo by Mark WarnerSen. Gloria Romero
Using her position as chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, Democratic Sen. Gloria Romero has threatened to audit the district's finances and hold oversight hearings if officials refuse to back down, despite concerns from students and faculty about pollution drifting into the school.
Houston-based Calpine Corp. in February won an air permitfrom the Bay Area Air Quality Management District – the final approval needed to start building the Russell City Energy Center, a 600-megawatt natural gas power plant.
The company expects to begin construction this fall on the plant at the corner of Depot Road and Cabot Boulevard in Hayward. The plant will use twin combined-cycle generators located on 19 acres, the Contra Costa Times has reported. It would sell its output to PG&E, creating power for use throughout the Bay Area.
Chabot College is located about two miles downwind.
A group of faculty and staff members, the community college district's board of trustees and the district chancellor have joined several other groups to fight the power plant. The district's board of trustees in March approved a resolution to appeal the air permit with the Environmental Appeals Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In a March 18 letter to Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Chancellor Joel Kinnamon, Romero urged the board to drop its appeal. She threatened to hold an oversight
