City, power plant owners in conflict over sewer project
Barbara Henry
North County Times
10/01/2011
Carlsbad's Planning Commission will take another look Wednesday at a sewer station project that owners of the Encina Power Station have said is poorly planned and encroaches onto their proposed site for a 558-megawatt power plant.
In February, planning commissioners recommended that Carlsbad's City Council approve the sewer project, but the City Council delayed its vote a month later after receiving a letter from an attorney representing NRG Energy Inc.
In that 11-page letter, attorney Ronald Rouse wrote that there were numerous "unresolved issues regarding the ultimate design, engineering, construction timing, operational constraints and scope of the project" and asked the city to conduct a full environmental impact report.
Among other things, Rouse wrote that the project included a bridge and trail with an alignment that was known to be "incompatible" with NRG's proposed power plant project.
NRG Energy and the city of Carlsbad have been in conflict for several years over the company's plans to build a power plant on the far eastern edge of its Encina Power Station property, south of Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
The city wants NRG Energy to tear down its aging, existing power plant and redevelop the entire Encina property into other uses.
The energy company is proposing to redevelop the front portion of the Encina property along the coast, and leave the back end between the railroad tracks and Interstate 5 for power generation.
The state Energy Commission, which has permit authority over large power plant projects, is reviewing the company's plans for the new power plant.
The proposed sewer line project would go through the Encina area. It involves a long swath of land, starting on the north side of the lagoon and continuing southward to the Encina Wastewater Pollution Control Facility on Avenida Encinas.
Plans call for a sewer line within the railroad and road right-of-ways, as well as a sewer "lift" station, and a 140-foot-long bridge over the lagoon.
The sewer line receives sewage flow from both Carlsbad and Vista and is jointly owned by the two communities. The pumping station is owned by the Encina Wastewater Authority.
