City officials want air monitoring equipment installed at
Charter School of Morgan Hill, located about 1.6 miles south of the
Metcalf Energy Center in Coyote Valley, but school officials have
concerns about aesthetics and whether San Jose will pay
”
rent.
”
Morgan Hill – City officials want air monitoring equipment installed at Charter School of Morgan Hill, located about 1.6 miles south of the Metcalf Energy Center in Coyote Valley, but school officials have concerns about aesthetics and whether San Jose will pay “rent.”
Hoping to work toward a solution, the Morgan Hill City Council on June 27 voted to add a discussion of the matter to the upcoming Aug. 9 City School District Liaison Committee meeting.
For two years, city officials have been interested in the air-monitoring program for the Metcalf power plant, which began operating at the intersection of Blanchard Road and Monterey Highway in 2005.
As part of the agreement to build the natural-gas-fueled plant, San Jose required Calpine to purchase air monitors for upwind and downwind stations to be established by the city of San Jose. The city established the upwind station in 2004, but has yet to locate a downwind site it considers technically and practically viable.
In May, Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate and State Assembly members John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, wrote letters to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed urging downwind air monitoring. Reed responded that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which consulted with San Jose on the project, determined there are no viable monitoring sites downwind from the plant.
To be effective, the monitoring equipment must be placed away from auto exhaust and dust from agricultural operations. Additionally, San Jose is limited in its options because the city must obtain permission from the site owner to install the equipment.
Morgan Hill officials believe the Charter School of Morgan Hill, a K-8 campus with about 475 students, would be a suitable location for the equipment to be effective. But the district remains concerned about the appearance of the equipment and whether the city of San Jose would provide financial compensation for use of the school grounds, which it apparently has not offered to do, said Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes.
The Metcalf Energy Center is a 600-megawatt power plant fueled by natural gas. It uses combined-cycle technology that is 40 percent more efficient than older power plants.
While generating much-needed power – one megawatt can power 750 homes – the center is also responsible for generating carbon monoxide, particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen.
The plant’s emissions and air-quality impacts are required to comply with various state and federal laws, which allow maximum of 124 tons of nitrous oxide to be released per year at the facility. Additionally, the plant is licensed to emit 589 tons of carbon monoxide.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has recommended Calpine conduct more frequent monitoring at the smoke stacks in lieu of a downwind station. This approach is being explore with Calpine, Reed said in his letter to Tate.
