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Power plant steam brings mold, bakery charges
By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer | ∞
ESCONDIDO -- An Escondido bakery next to the Palomar Energy Center has filed a complaint with the California Energy Commission over mold that allegedly forms as a result of the power plant's cooling towers.
Bimbo Bakeries USA reported that the bakery, on Aldergrove Avenue near the Escondido Auto Park, had been having more bread returned because of mold since the power plant started commercial operations a year ago.
"We think there's a link," company spokesman David Margulies said this week.
San Diego Gas & Electric Co., the power plant's operator, was not contacted directly by the bakery, utility spokesman Peter Hidalgo said.
The plume that is sometimes visible above the natural gas-fired power plant is steam, the equivalent of around 2 million gallons of water per day.
Margulies stressed that the bakery had eliminated the mold but wanted to avoid future problems.
A February letter to the Energy Commission from the bakery manager says the bakery had to add more mold inhibitor to its products, install more air filters and remove a patch of mold from its roof that had appeared in the last year.
The Energy Commission is sending staff members to Escondido to investigate in the next month, spokeswoman Claudia Chandler said Friday.
"There's not necessarily mold inside the stacks of the cooling towers," she said, saying that the possibility exists that the reported increase in mold may have simply come from more moisture.
Operator San Diego Gas & Electric is required to test the cooling towers for bacteria every week and Legionnaire's disease every quarter, according to a report from the Energy Commission.
A summary of the test results for the power plant's first year of operation says that all were within the limits specified by the Energy Commission.
The complaint, according to Chandler, caused the Energy Commission to delay approval for a $10 million air intake chiller that was supposed to make the power plant work more efficiently starting this summer.
The chiller could have boosted the plant's capacity by about 40 megawatts in hot weather. Its stated capacity is 546 megawatts -- enough to serve 350,000 homes -- in cool weather.
Critics of the power plant's design, such as energy industry watchdog Bill Powers, previously said that impurities in the recycled water used in its cooling towers could make them harder to disinfect.
The letter from the bakery manager says that last summer, he took pictures of the cooling towers showing that they were "covered with mold" only to see them pressure-washed the next day.
It also says that employees reported finding mold in the bakery to the Centers for Disease Control, which had federal health inspectors advise the company to install more air filters and other sanitary precautions.
The 16-year-old bakery produces an average of 4.2 million rolls and loaves every month, distributed throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Bimbo-affiliated brands include Orowheat, Thomas' and Entenmann's.
The city of Escondido's Web site lists the bakery as one of its top 25 employers, with around 250 employees.
Bimbo Bakeries USA is headquartered in Fort Worth and is the United States division of Mexico's Grupo Bimbo.
-- Contact staff writer Quinn Eastman at (760) 740-5412 or qeastman@nctimes.com.
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Moldy Hospital? wrote on May 19, 2007 7:01 AM:Will this affect the new hospital that is planned for the ERTC?
Microclimate wrote on May 19, 2007 7:20 AM:I guess that's a word one of the local weathermen on TV would use to describe the conditions the plant has created. We have personally noticed an increase in sinus related issues this past year. In addition there are strange little sections of road where it is drizzling in the morning. I definitely think the plant has brought about changes in far western Escondido's weather and hope that this doesn't just turn into a 10 million dollar study that last 5 yrs with no results, but some research definitely needs to be done.
Fungus wrote on May 19, 2007 7:21 AM:Mold is caused by a fungus. Bacteria testing is not effective for detecting and preventing mold. These cooling tower could be sending mold spores out over a wide area.
JSten wrote on May 19, 2007 8:04 AM:Article said: "The Energy Commission is sending staff members to Escondido to investigate in the next month ... There's not necessarily mold inside the stacks of the cooling towers," she said, saying that the possibility exists that the reported increase in mold may have simply come from more moisture." Sounds like envoronmental impact to me.
Neighbor wrote on May 19, 2007 11:04 AM:A simple solution would be for energy plant to use its plume abatement system all the time instead of turning it off. The Energy Commission and SDG&E have failed to implement this requirement because they don't think it's a problem. Having a hospital next door would require millions to protect its patients but PPH and SDG&E have a liability waiver that prevents the plant of having any responsibility. Patients will be left to protect themselves. The other solution is to file a complaint to the air quality district as a nuisance but the city doesn't think it's an issue either.
Neighbor wrote on May 19, 2007 12:32 PM:Beware of Energy Commission investigations. They will protect the energy provider at all costs. They'll show up a month or two later and say that the plant is meeting its specifications and there is no problem. It has already happened. Evidence and data presented during the hearings was not always true yet they chose to ignore everyone but the power company.
Gagging wrote on May 19, 2007 4:25 PM:This powerplant is a definite black eye for Escondido and should never have been built. The extra pollution is obvious. Knowing that this pollution contains bacteria and mold should cause elected leaders to force full compliance, surprise inspections and absolute opposition to expansion plans. Why must private industry take the lead when government leaders and bureaucrats pushed this through? The pathetic PPH plans to move health care into this witch's brew should also be reevaluated and rejected.
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