LAKE ELSINORE: Ratepayers fired up about flier
Glossy mailer sent by water district touts alleged benefits on hydroelectric plant project
By AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer | ∞
LAKE ELSINORE ---- A glossy flier that purports to share the latest news on the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District's hydroelectric power-plant project is being ripped to shreds by some district ratepayers.
The ratepayers, including a united group that attended last week's district board meeting, are saying the flier is a puff piece that misrepresents the power plant's alleged benefits.
District spokesman Greg Morrison defended the flier Thursday, saying it had been fully analyzed by the district's legal staff before it was sent out.
The district has been working for more than a decade with Vista-based energy investors to gain federal and state approval to build the plant on the western edge of Lake Elsinore.
The plant would generate electricity by pumping water into a reservoir in the mountains when demand for power is low and running the water through turbines when demand is high. Power lines would connect the plant with the power grids in San Diego and Los Angeles.
The project's backers are trying to link the plant with a wind power generating facility, which generates most of its net power at night, to provide electricity for pumping the water into the reservoir.
The flier that was recently mailed to the district's ratepayers details the project's design and talks about the regulatory process the project must go through.
The controversial aspect of the flier lists the project's anticipated benefits, including $100 million in new wages, salaries and contract spending injected into Riverside County's economy. The flier also states the project will help stabilize the lake's water level and help the state meet its power needs in the future.
A former member of the district's board of directors, Chris Hyland, called the flier's contents "a bunch of lies" and she said the directors who knew of its contents should start "kneeling in a confessional."
Critics of the power plant project contend the economics of the electricity market have changed since the plant was first proposed more than 20 years ago, making the project unviable. The critics also contend the district has been wasting ratepayer money by paying millions to help move the project through a maze of regulatory red tape.
Hyland was particularly miffed by the quotes in the flier attributed to Philippe Auclair and Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley.
Auclair, listed as an expert on energy policy and economics, estimates the power plant and transmission lines could produce $178 million in annual quantified benefits, according to the flier.
Ashley is quoted as saying the plant would help satisfy the region's power needs and help stabilize the lake.
Hyland said the brochure sounds as if Auclair, a former analyst for the California Energy Commission, was paid by the district and she said Ashley shouldn't be weighing in on a project that's not in his supervisorial district.
Pete Weber, Lake Elsinore's city treasurer and another opponent of the power plant project, said the flier was a "spin" job that didn't tell the whole story.
And he broke down some of the claims he felt were misleading in an e-mail to The Californian.
-- "Nothing has been finalized with Nevada Hydro (the Vista investors) as to how and if they will repay $6 million (the water district) has already sunk into the project and who will pay to keep the lake full."
The district estimates it has spent about half that amount and the district says the plant will allow both the district and the city of Lake Elsinore to save $750,000 a year that is paid to the Metropolitan Water District to keep the lake's water level stabilized.
-- "The final environmental impact report has yet to determine whether the lake environment will be damaged by (the plant) and not enhanced as the brochure claims."
That environmental impact report will be completed later this year, project backers have said.
-- "The claim that it will reduce forest fires is erroneous; the wires will increase the threat of fires and keep firemen from fighting the fires."
The flier states that the reservoir can be used as a water source for firefighting helicopters and the edges of the reservoir could be used as a staging area for firefighters.
-- "Siemens is not a partner in the project but a contractor, we have yet to see the contract that Morgan Stanley signed to support (the power plant), and every time we ask to see it we never get it."
A Morgan Stanley representative sent The Californian an e-mail that says Morgan Stanley, which has a division dedicated to bankrolling energy projects, is committed to funding the permitting process "to the extent they determine to be appropriate."
Siemens is listed as a partner that will provide all of the technology and support needed to construct each component of the $1.1 billion "world-class" hydroelectric facility, according to the flier.
Regarding Weber's contention that nothing is finalized with Nevada Hydro, Morrison said the district signed a contract with Nevada Hydro in 1997 that he called a development agreement.
The agreement was somewhat general in nature because the project was pretty much in the conceptual design stage at that point, he said.
The district has been working on a new agreement that will detail how it will be reimbursed for its investment to date and compensated annually in the future.
Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.
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pierre wrote on Jul 4, 2008 6:58 AM:Using Greg Morrison's math, which is probably way too optimistic, it will take more than 1,000 years of annual lake savings for the plant to break even. Sounds like a great idea.
Anthony wrote on Jul 4, 2008 8:38 AM:Mr. Brown, the EVMWD district lawyer read the brochure and gave the final OK to let the flier out. Figures, he is the same lawyer who got the District into this mess and stated in the last article that EVMWD is going to get sued over this project wether it goes forward or not. We need to stop the bleeding and get out of this project.
Arthur wrote on Jul 4, 2008 9:16 AM:After reading the brochure and this article it seems that the brochure misrepresents the postive portions of LEAPS but never tells the negative aspects of LEAPS. The EIR isn't completed, the comtract isn't completed. Seimens isn't a partner but simply a contractor, and the airplane that I see posted on the flyer will never be able to land in the water. I can't see how the EVMWD can legally send out false and misleading brochure like this.. and why did they send it out?
Ronald wrote on Jul 4, 2008 10:04 AM:Mr. Morrison needs to give up his dream of electical lines strewn across the mountains above the lake and an electrical facility that will have the water on the Elsinore shore receed over a hundred feet in some areas according to the latest federal report. The board has voted to look into the legality of pulling out of the project, I want to have open meetings on this subject , not closed meetings as the EVMWD lawyer suggeted at the last EVMWD meeting I attended.
Disappointed wrote on Jul 4, 2008 11:38 AM:A commitment by Morgan Stanely to fund the permitting process which cost $300,000 is a far cry from a contract to build a $1.3 billion hydro plant which will lose millions per year. The 1994 agreement is being renegogiated because it doesn't state that Nevada Hydro will ever pay the district back one dime, also the new contract is constatntly delayed because Nevada Hydro disagrees with several of the terms of the new contract, two of which are paying to keep the lake full of water and whether they should pay the EVMWD back the million they owe to EVMWD.
Jim wrote on Jul 4, 2008 12:05 PM:The EVMWD Board of Directors will find out if the people believe this garbage in November
Flyer Brochure or Newsletter wrote on Jul 5, 2008 10:06 AM:That's a concern about the "daylies" news reporting? Quicky event coverage by a rookie reporter every year-to-year.
What exactly was the item in this report?
Was it mailed to us? Handed out at an event, or layed out at a convenience store counter?
What was the title of the item?
I_Know wrote on Jul 6, 2008 10:35 AM:The flyer was mailed out to people in Lake Elsinore and Murrietta, the areas closest to the forest such as Lakeland Village, parts of Lake Elsinore and Wildomar, the areas who will have the wires at their doorsteps, and who will lose their land, did not receive the flyer. By the way it also states that we will receive electrical benfits from the LEAPS, but all the electricity will go to San Diego at a much higer price than other electricity on the grid to help make up for the high cost of the project, even with the federal OK to have a large surcharge on this electricity, the projects loses tens of millions per year. Good job Aaron
Shame on You wrote on Jul 7, 2008 8:42 AM:Aaron - why do you write an article regarding this project and quote Chris Hyland and Pete Weber? Where are their statistics? Where is the documentation? I guess you can write and article about nothing!
JSten wrote on Jul 7, 2008 3:02 PM:Someone should wake up to the fact that perpetual motion machines (which this is) violates the fundamental laws of the universe, no to mention logic.
Look at the gas pump or the housing market and tell me that anyone can guarantee that off peak power will have sufficient margin with on-peak, to make this boondoggle worthwhile over the life of the facility.
If this is a jobs bill, or an early christmas gift for consultants and contractor, then go ahead, I will be right there with my hand-out..
Reply wrote on Jul 7, 2008 11:55 PM:Shame on you needs to obtain the reports that have come out on this project over the last ten years, a good place to start your research is to request the 1997 Agreement between Nevada Hydro and EVMWD. It is the only document the two have signed on this project, and worst of all it is non-binding. In other words the millions that EVMWD spent on this project do not have to be paid back. Start there, then follow the plethora of agreements, white papers, studies, and reports, decipher what you belive to be fact. and fiction then, in other words do your homework, I know Weber has.
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