The Coast News, Nov. 9, 2012

A16 THE COAST NEWS
NOV. 9, 2012
RESULTS
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the U.S. House of
Representatives Scott
Peters leading 103,878 to
103,193.
But with onl y 685
votes dividing the candidates
and 475,000 a bsentee
and provisional ballots
countywide to be counted,
Danon said as Bilbr ay’s
chief of staff he w as going
to hold off commenting on
that race.
In an at-times nasty
election that included
name calling and alleged
sign stealing and assault,
incumbent Lesa Hee bner,
Peter Zahn and David Zito
were the top v ote-getters
for three seats on the
Solana Beach City Council.
After 20 y ears on the
council, Mayor Joe
Kellejian did not seek r eelection
and Roberts
RV ORDINANCE
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help staff evaluate its effectiveness
within this timeframe.
“We have worked hard
REVENUES
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was recently created and
hand-delivered to all business
on Oct. 30.
Future publications will
be posted on the kiosk on
Plaza Street and the city website.
It will also be distributed
via email to those who sign
up.
Merchants said the y
were also upset to see cr ews
onsite for only eight hour s a
day and perhaps f our days a
week.
“They should be working
longer hours because the
more they extend this, the
longer we’ll be affected,” Bell
said.
Glen Bullock, with contractor
Dick Miller Inc., said
his bid was based on an eighthour
day.
At one point, council
members discussed funding
overtime.
Ott said work hours were
extended but the time change
and light and noise impacts
on nearby residential neighborhoods
limit the opportunities
for longer work days.
However, one night of
construction is sc heduled in
about two weeks and cr ews
stepped down to run f or
the Board of Supervisors.
“I’m thrilled,”
Heebner said. “I’m so
thankful Solana Beach voters
were able to see
through the lies and elect
the best, most qualified
candidates to the council.”
Her opponent Vickie
Driver, who finished 258
votes shy of thir d place,
said she w as happy the
campaign was over,
although she met “some
really fantastic people I
probably wouldn’t have
met otherwise.”
“I wanted to give back
to the city,” she said. “I’m
glad it got people out to
vote and got them e xcited
about what’s going on in
Solana Beach.”
Driver, who currently
serves as c hairwoman of
the Public Safety
Commission, said she will
continue to v olunteer in
as a city and comm unity to
create a high quality of life
and value for living, working
and playing in Car lsbad;
and, as a result, we are now
following other jurisdictions
that have ordinances
will work some Saturdays, Ott
said.
“As spring r olls around
we’ll extend our hours again,”
he said.
Ott also noted w orkers
were leaching the dirt in the
medians because of high salt
content.
“So it ma y have looked
like they weren’t working but
they had to leac h the soil
before they could plant the
trees,” he said.
“We need par king, not
trees,” said Tatum, who leases
his dog-wash space and o wns
the three-unit building that
houses Art a la Carte. “This
affects so many people. Their
priority should be to get the
road, sidewalks and par king
back in so we can at least have
a Christmas.”
Construction costs ar e
estimated at $7 million. To
fund the pr oject, Solana
Beach took ad vantage of a
financing plan offered by the
San Diego Association of
Governments in 2011.
SANDAG issued feder al
Build America Bonds and
allowed cities to use their
TransNet money to make payments.
Solana Beach borrowed
$5.5 million at 3.8 per cent
the city.
“I was happy to bring
out some issues for the betterment
of Solana Beac h,
including improving communications
to citiz ens
and local businesses about
the full impact of decisions
and their unintended consequences,”
said fifthplace
finisher Daniel
Powell.
“I wish the ne w council
well in tac kling the
city’s falling revenues and
will work with them, if
asked, on ways to shore up
this serious problem.”
Paul Frankel did not
return a r equest for comment
by press time.
In Del Mar, incumbent
Don Mosier, Sherryl Parks
and Al Corti were the only
candidates for three
vacant seats.
Mayor Carl Hilliard
and Mark Filanc didn’t
seek re-election.
restricting overnight parking
for oversized vehicles and
RVs and ha ve introduced
parking permits to ad dress
the issues and complaints, ”
Jones said.
interest. Total interest that
will be paid during the 38year
loan is a bout $10.8 million,
but approximately $3.8
million of that will be paid b y
a federal subsidy, bringing the
cost to the city to a bout $12.5
million.
In addition to improving
aesthetics, installing 11 gathering
places, increasing
pedestrian and bicycle safety
and adding parking spaces,
Ott said the pr oject includes
“severely needed” repairs to
existing infrastructure such as
roadway and side walk pavement
and deteriorated storm
drain facilities.
The city’s sanitation fund
has healthy reserves, but that
money can’t be used for storm
drains, Ott said.
Although the pr oject
isn’t slated f or completion
until fall 2013, Tatum said he
was told parking and accessibility
to businesses will be
restored by January.
“That sits well with me,”
Pinady said. “I’d give that a
thumbs up.”
“That would be fair but if
it exceeds that a lot of people
are going to be in tr ouble,”
said Tatum.“My rent is $6,000
a month. I’ve got to wash a lot
of dogs to cover that.”
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district officials hadn’ t met
to tentatively discuss wher e
specifically the $7.5 million
would go.
“We hadn’t gotten that
far yet,” he said.
Art Pulse wanted to turn
the 2.8-acre site, which was
closed in 2003 because of
declining enrollment, into a
community art center . The
group also planned to build
as many as se ven homes on
the property as part of the
deal.
In order for the Art
Pulse deal to mo ve forward,
EUSD asked the city to hear
Art Pulse’s proposal to
change the z oning of the
Pacific View site to a mixed-
SONGS
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the effectiveness of tube plugging.
“I know they are going to
great lengths to r eassure the
public ... but they can’t just fix
it by plugging tubes,” said Gary
Headrick, co-founder of San
Clemente Green, a community
environmental organization
that has been speaking out
against the restart of SONGS.
“Southern California really
has the c hoice of r eplacing
the steam generators a second
time or closing the f acility,”
said Mosier.
Since January, SCE’s private
contractors have conducted
more than 170,000 inspections
of the steam gener ators,
Dietrich said.
Inspection and r epair
costs since SONGS’ closur e
total $96 million, while replacing
the plant’ s power has
reached $221 million, according
to Edison International’ s
reports.
Proposed Restart
Pending NRC appr oval,
SCE has proposed to temporarily
restart Unit 2 at 70 per cent
power. After five months operating
Unit 2, SCE plans to shut
it down and check to see if the
condition of the steam gener ator
tubes has remained in tact.
“This is just an e xperiment
with a poor ly designed
steam generator that shouldn’t
run,” said Mosier.
Headrick expressed concerns
that SCE is una ble to
detect if the tubes contin ue to
wear or experience other damage
while a steam gener ator is
running unless another r adiation
leak occurs and triggers an
alarm.
SCE has ad dressed the
conditions that caused the tube
wear by preventatively plugging
the effected tubes and b y
running Unit 2 at limited
capacity, according to Br own.
Furthermore, the plant has also
added monitoring equipment
to detect sound and the slightest
variation in steam conditions.
Dietrich said it is too early
to say if Unit 2 will e ver run at
full capacity again.
SCE has not pr oposed to
restart Unit 3.
CPUC Investigation
In late October , CPUC
opened a f ormal investigation
of the e xtended shutdown of
SONGS. The investigation will
determine if customer s will
continue to pa y SCE and
SDG&E for SONGS and if customers
should receive a refund
for the SONGS rates paid since
the plant’s outages in J anuary.
use
money could
have been
used to stave
off cuts.”
Tim Baird
EUSD Superintendent
arts center. A deadline of
Oct. 30 was set between Art
Pulse and the district to
deliver the $300,000 nonrefundable
fee. The city had
said they weren’t aware of
any deadline and that the y
had planned to hear the pr o-
The investigation will also consider
the necessity of SONGS
and if the plant is capa ble of
providing safe and r eliable
electricity at r easonable rates
in the future.
“This investigation will
allow us to address issues related
to the outages as part of our
responsibility to keep the lights
on and keep rates just and reasonable.
We will look very critically
at the utilities’ financial
responsibility for the prolonged
outage and who should bear
those costs,” said CPUC
President Michael R. Peevey in
a press release.
SCE has a “sense of apprehension”
about the CPUC’ s
investigation, but intends on
being transparent and open
with the commission,according
to Dietrich.
“We (Del Mar City
Council) think that’s a needed
investigation because the
ratepayers continue to pay...for
a nonfunctioning plant, ” said
Mosier about the CPUC’s investigation.
But Mosier also expressed
concern about the impartiality
of the CPUC, pointing out that
Peevey, the commission’s president,
is the former president of
Edison International and SCE.
“This is an industr y of insiders,”
said Mosier.
Plant’s Safety Record
On top of the plant’ s tube
wear issues, SONGS has
incurred a n umber of safety
violations in recent years.
In August 2011, the NRC
cited SONGS f or allowing an
employee to mak e core alterations
at the plant while his
license was inactive.
From January 2008 to
September 2012, the NRC substantiated
62 safety allegations
made against SONGS b y non-
NRC sources, more than an y
other nuclear plant in the U.S.
Susquehanna Steam
Electric Station in
Pennsylvania, which had the
second highest sustained allegations
during that time, had
38 sustained safety allegations.
Diablo Canyon, the only other
operating nuclear power facility
in Calif ornia, had 18 sustained
safety allegations during
the same period.
Preparations without
the Plant
The California
Independent System Operator
Corporation (ISO), which runs
California’s power grid,
announced in September that
is was preparing to oper ate
without SONGS f or summer
2013. The ISO Boar d of
Governors approved converting
power units in Huntington
Beach into condensers in order
posal at the ne xt available
Council meeting set f or Nov.
14.
While the deal f alling
through doesn’t impact this
year’s budget, Baird said
future budgets stand to be
negatively affected.
“The money could have
been used to sta ve off cuts,”
Baird said.
Because the Art Pulse
deal is no mor e, Baird said
the district w ould try and
rezone the property to allow
for housing.
Baird said the district
and Art Pulse will go their
separate ways without legal
action.
A lawsuit is possible if
the city denies the z oning
change request for housing,
he said.
to fill the current and anticipated
voltage support void left by
SONGS.
Open House
At the open house SONGS
experts stationed at booths presented
on the plant’ s steam
generator design, tube detection
techniques, emergency
planning, radiation, environmental
impact, and how the
plant works as a whole.
SCE is planning to host
another open house in San
Clemente this month.
Sixty people attended,
most of who were there to learn
more about the plant and its
proposed restart.
Cliff Kaiser, who came in a
close third for Vista City
Council, attended the event in
support of the limited restart of
Unit 2. Kaiser used to be a
nuclear engineer f or the navy
and wanted to learn mor e
about the condition of the
tubes within the steam generators.
“It would be a disaster if
environmentalists shut
(SONGS) down for illogical reasons,”
he said.
Not all attendees w ere in
favor of Unit 2’s restart.
“(SCE has) a lot of nice
booths here...but what the y’re
suggesting sounds like more of
an experiment than a solution,”
said Headrick, who attended
the open house with a bout a
dozen other San Clemente
Green members.
North County Concerns
Over the past y ear, North
County city councils and r esidents
have raised concerns
about the safety of SONGS.
Most recently, the Del Mar
City Council approved a resolution
that ur ged the NRC to
require a public license amendment
hearing before SONGS is
permitted to restart.
Del Mar City Council also
sent a letter to the CPUC asking
that the commission look
into the costs of reduced-power
generation, the costs of a pr olonged
shutdown of SONGS
and the original costs of
installing the br oken steam
generators.
The Solana Beac h City
Council sent a letter to the
NRC asking for improved safety
measures at SONGS.
Residents have pressed the
Encinitas City Council and the
Oceanside City Council to
address safety concerns a bout
SONGS at future meetings.
Upcoming NRC Meeting
The NRC will meet with
SCE representatives to discuss
how the compan y has
addressed SONGS’ tube degradation
problems at a public
meeting Nov. 16 in Dana Point.