Update on AES / SCE Herondo Right of Way

Despite the barrage of attacks you may have read on social media, in the newspapers or even in your mailbox and at your front door over the past 5 years… I share similar goals to the Mayor in a vision for the AES site and the Edison right-of-way corridor up Herondo/Anita/190th. I have served on the AES subcommittee for the past two years working to bring a different vision to our city. During this time AES has found someone to purchase their property. Mr. Pustilikov has thus far also agreed to sell 25 acres of the site to the City – as long as we can come up with the funding sources. See this article for more background.

This is yet another complicated process with many moving parts and potential outcomes. So as it stands today – here are some updates:

1. The AES property purchase should be completed this month.
2. The AES Power Plant will continue to operate in a lease-back scenario until it can no longer operate per state law. The last day it can operate is 12/31/20.
3. The CPUC will be considering a proposed decision to extend Once-Through Cooling for an additional 3 years in Southern California Edison territory under the idea of ensuring grid reliability and resource adequacy. If this judgment is applied to Redondo Beach – it would allow operation of the plant to continue until 12/31/23. The council is discussing this tonight – 9/17/19.
4. Southern California Edison has completed a Method of Service study, that the council paid for, to determine what could potentially happen with the power lines from the AES site to the city border at Beryl.
5. While this study has not been formally released, it determines that SCE could remove all lines from AES to Prospect at no cost as well as the larger 220kv lines to Beryl. The remaining 66kv and smaller distribution lines can be either relocated, undergrounded or left as is. Each option comes with different costs. Here is an article.
6. Under the assumption that all the lines come down – we could eventually realize what my vision has been all along… to have a green-belt / bike path / park extending down to the Harbor.

As the story progresses – I will continue to post updates.