Morro Bay Power Plant Defeated!
Power Activism Removes Morro Bay Power Plant
Our founder protesting the power plant in front of Morro Bay Vets Hall, circa, 2005
A Happy Extinction
Another giant Dinosaur has gone extinct
An ugly power plant that looks like one, I think
For 58 years, it has been unnecessary
Sucking all the fish out of my Estuary
It took a band of people who were not afraid to fight
We punched it in the nose and sent it off into the night
The final straw was when a pod of Dolphins strayed in
Got stuck and wound up leaving without two of their kin
Now we can protect our State Marine Reserve
and have the kind of Estuary we deserve!
jr
Yesterday, Dynegy Energy Company sent a letter to the Governor of California announcing the 2014 closing of their Power Plant in Morro Bay! (PDF available). Congratulations to all of us who fought so hard for so long to make this dream come true- especially to the hard working activists past and present in C.A.P.E., the Coastal Alliance against Plant Expansion. This power plant was a real destroyer of ocean life, with its 'Once Through Cooling' seawater intake. No more! :)
Special thanks to Jack McCurdy who led the effort!
With love and respect,
joey racano
photo: Racano
PDF file below- Current and final Morro Bay Power Plant owner Dynegy sent this letter to California Governor Jerry Brown informing him of coming plant closure in 2014: Scroll to bottom for PDF (but do take time to read this first...)
Our founder protesting the power plant in front of Morro Bay Vets Hall, circa, 2005
A Happy Extinction
Another giant Dinosaur has gone extinct
An ugly power plant that looks like one, I think
For 58 years, it has been unnecessary
Sucking all the fish out of my Estuary
It took a band of people who were not afraid to fight
We punched it in the nose and sent it off into the night
The final straw was when a pod of Dolphins strayed in
Got stuck and wound up leaving without two of their kin
Now we can protect our State Marine Reserve
and have the kind of Estuary we deserve!
jr
Yesterday, Dynegy Energy Company sent a letter to the Governor of California announcing the 2014 closing of their Power Plant in Morro Bay! (PDF available). Congratulations to all of us who fought so hard for so long to make this dream come true- especially to the hard working activists past and present in C.A.P.E., the Coastal Alliance against Plant Expansion. This power plant was a real destroyer of ocean life, with its 'Once Through Cooling' seawater intake. No more! :)
Special thanks to Jack McCurdy who led the effort!
With love and respect,
joey racano
photo: Racano
PDF file below- Current and final Morro Bay Power Plant owner Dynegy sent this letter to California Governor Jerry Brown informing him of coming plant closure in 2014: Scroll to bottom for PDF (but do take time to read this first...)
Here's an excerpt from my second book, entitled "Curse of the Xus Staway":
Dear Friends of the Ocean,
I attended groundbreaking ceremonies today at Bolsa Chica Wetlands tidal inlet in Huntington Beach- thirty years of environmental activism culminating in this coastal gem returning to nature forever! The event was attended by the Environmental Protection Agency, State Fish & Game, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, environmental and news organizations, activists and citizens.
Standing on a bridge over the marshland, I managed a quick one-on-one conversation with Lieutenant Governor of California Cruz Bustamante about single-pass cooling and the proposed power plant expansion by Duke Energy in Morro Bay.
He was very hip. He gave me his contact info, introduced his assistant and me, and directed me to a paper he wrote promoting dry* cooling!
I also had a few words with a certain California Coastal Commissioner who made clear the gravity of the Morro Bay situation saying, "We have no jurisdiction there" and, "It would be good if you went there and helped those people".
*Dry cooling is a newer method of cooling power plants by using the same water over and over, eliminating the destruction of plankton/fish larvae by the less efficient single pass method.
Part Two
Intro
During the 2004 election cycle, I ran for Huntington Beach City Council for the third (and final) time. The big money, high-stakes anti-development issues I was involved in were bringing a good deal of heat down on me and it became necessary for me to stay completely out of the city, except to speak at a function or council meeting. Even then, I never drove and always had a few people with me- quite a few handicaps while running for public office. Once, I did drive and as I left town I had a police helicopter escort flying directly overhead- incredible! During a candidate interview with the HB ‘Independent’ I and the reporter were buzzed by a police chopper as well- it was absolutely Orwellian!
Eventually, I shifted the focus of my entire campaign away from environmental issues, choosing instead to use the campaign bully pulpit to spotlight rampant use of ‘soft money’ by political action committees, like the HBPOA (Huntington Beach Police Officers Association). Such soft-money allows ‘PAC’s to circumvent campaign finance limits we ‘little people’ are obliged to follow. Needless to say, this completely subverts the democratic process. The press started to write about it and newspaper cartoonists started to draw about it as well, so I did have some measure of success.
It was my final payback for 15 years of harassment by a small group of thugs hidden within a large and good police force. And the message got through- I wound up with 10,253 votes! Meanwhile however, the developers of Orange County –who were very angry at me for the hundreds of millions I and my merry band of cohorts had cost them- finally found my Achilles heel- my dog champion.
Though smart, champion had never been the ‘pet me’ type, only close to his dad- and I like it that way. He has been a fierce guardian of this rabble-rousing activist! If you want to sneak up to the RV in the middle of some dark night, you’ve got to deal with champion first. I recently met a nice couple, peace activists from Kalamazoo Michigan, who told me of an activist friend they had met just north of Morro Bay. The guy was a lot like me, they said; he lived in his camper, had a music CD and slept out on the usually deserted rugged north-central coast. One night he had an ‘accident’ out there alone, having somehow ‘slipped’ off a high cliff to die on the rocks below. The developers never heard a peep out of him again. The only real difference between he and I was he had a cat and I have champ.
Back in Orange County, the good cops admired him. Champ is sort of a shepherd/akita mix- a lot like the malinois or Belgian shepherds used as police dogs. Once, as I was being placed in a squad car during an arrest on some silly charge, I told champion, “Stay”. Police came into the jail after their shifts that night wearing long faces as they clocked out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked one.
“It’s your dog” he answered.
“Is he ok? I snapped.
“Oh, he’s fine. Won’t eat, won’t move, he won’t even look at anyone. Other than that, he’s just fine”.
He was still there three days later and we even broke that record after another arrest at six days!
You can bet I was proud of that boy. Yes, he had bitten a few people. Never anyone who didn’t have it coming, mind you, but he had a record a mile long. Like his daddy!
We had actually been ‘on the run’ for about a year, ever since a false police report made by HB Police officer ‘Potter’ which resulted in champion being declared a ‘potentially dangerous dog’ by a kangaroo court presided over by crooked Orange County Animal Control officer Lieutenant Whelan. And so we spent the entire 2004 election campaign living in a borrowed RV out of town in a Wal Mart parking lot. My own RV –plastered with bumper stickers- was just too damned hot. An Orange County Animal Control officer searching for my dog once even said of it, “That RV is part of Huntington Beach history!”
In the end, Animal control came really close to pulling Champion out of the RV’s passenger window one morning while I was out riding my bicycle. Hearing about it from shanty-town neighbors upon my return, I decided enough was enough. Since champ was only wanted in Orange County*, I took stock of my feelings and priorities, decided my first allegiance was to my dog and we left town the next morning.
*I am sure that was their plan the whole while- to get me the hell out of Orange County. Of course, this was supposed to happen before we stopped the sewage waiver, but that didn’t work out for them. We also stopped what would have been the western hemisphere’s biggest desalination plant too. In fact, I’m sure they’re very happy I’m someone else’s headache now because as I write these words, they are presenting a soft-money constructed Huntington Beach city council with a re-circulated EIR (Environmental Impact Report), trying to push the desal plant through without me there to fight it.
Anyway, I sent out this next e mail, we hit the road and headed for Morro Bay!
Part Two
Fri Nov 5, 2004 10:36 am
joeylittleshell@yahoo.com wrote:
~Duke’s A Hazard!~
Well, I finally sold my old RV, the one my wonderful Misty dog (champ’s mom) died in on May 24th, 1998, her husband Sampson died in on his 13th birthday January 1st, 1999, my Crow Spike died in on Sept. 5th 1999 and the one I toured in for my first CD in 1999 and my second CD in 2003. She was a good old RV. I called her the ‘Pequod’ after Ahab’s ship in Moby Dick. I certainly hope the guy who bought her takes off the NO MORE BUSHIT – JAIL HURWITZ.COM – SAVE THE WILD- HONOR OUR CHILDREN HONOR OUR TREATIES NO MISSILE DEFENSE – YOU ARE ON INDIAN LAND – TREE HUGGER – NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS bumper stickers before driving into Huntington Beach with it as I am quite despised there by the developer-zoids and their cop army.
I am doing some fine tuning on the new rig with the money, and shall now call on ahead to the evil Duke Energy power plant proposed for Morro Bay:
Dear would-be estuary killers,
A word to the wise- Joey’s coming. You’ll know it when I get there. Stand by for updates everybody. Morro Bay is a beautiful place, maybe a few of you are up to the coming battle. Meet me at ‘Two Dogs’ internet café in about two weeks y’all.
Dear Friends of the Ocean,
I attended groundbreaking ceremonies today at Bolsa Chica Wetlands tidal inlet in Huntington Beach- thirty years of environmental activism culminating in this coastal gem returning to nature forever! The event was attended by the Environmental Protection Agency, State Fish & Game, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, environmental and news organizations, activists and citizens.
Standing on a bridge over the marshland, I managed a quick one-on-one conversation with Lieutenant Governor of California Cruz Bustamante about single-pass cooling and the proposed power plant expansion by Duke Energy in Morro Bay.
He was very hip. He gave me his contact info, introduced his assistant and me, and directed me to a paper he wrote promoting dry* cooling!
I also had a few words with a certain California Coastal Commissioner who made clear the gravity of the Morro Bay situation saying, "We have no jurisdiction there" and, "It would be good if you went there and helped those people".
*Dry cooling is a newer method of cooling power plants by using the same water over and over, eliminating the destruction of plankton/fish larvae by the less efficient single pass method.
Part Two
Intro
During the 2004 election cycle, I ran for Huntington Beach City Council for the third (and final) time. The big money, high-stakes anti-development issues I was involved in were bringing a good deal of heat down on me and it became necessary for me to stay completely out of the city, except to speak at a function or council meeting. Even then, I never drove and always had a few people with me- quite a few handicaps while running for public office. Once, I did drive and as I left town I had a police helicopter escort flying directly overhead- incredible! During a candidate interview with the HB ‘Independent’ I and the reporter were buzzed by a police chopper as well- it was absolutely Orwellian!
Eventually, I shifted the focus of my entire campaign away from environmental issues, choosing instead to use the campaign bully pulpit to spotlight rampant use of ‘soft money’ by political action committees, like the HBPOA (Huntington Beach Police Officers Association). Such soft-money allows ‘PAC’s to circumvent campaign finance limits we ‘little people’ are obliged to follow. Needless to say, this completely subverts the democratic process. The press started to write about it and newspaper cartoonists started to draw about it as well, so I did have some measure of success.
It was my final payback for 15 years of harassment by a small group of thugs hidden within a large and good police force. And the message got through- I wound up with 10,253 votes! Meanwhile however, the developers of Orange County –who were very angry at me for the hundreds of millions I and my merry band of cohorts had cost them- finally found my Achilles heel- my dog champion.
Though smart, champion had never been the ‘pet me’ type, only close to his dad- and I like it that way. He has been a fierce guardian of this rabble-rousing activist! If you want to sneak up to the RV in the middle of some dark night, you’ve got to deal with champion first. I recently met a nice couple, peace activists from Kalamazoo Michigan, who told me of an activist friend they had met just north of Morro Bay. The guy was a lot like me, they said; he lived in his camper, had a music CD and slept out on the usually deserted rugged north-central coast. One night he had an ‘accident’ out there alone, having somehow ‘slipped’ off a high cliff to die on the rocks below. The developers never heard a peep out of him again. The only real difference between he and I was he had a cat and I have champ.
Back in Orange County, the good cops admired him. Champ is sort of a shepherd/akita mix- a lot like the malinois or Belgian shepherds used as police dogs. Once, as I was being placed in a squad car during an arrest on some silly charge, I told champion, “Stay”. Police came into the jail after their shifts that night wearing long faces as they clocked out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked one.
“It’s your dog” he answered.
“Is he ok? I snapped.
“Oh, he’s fine. Won’t eat, won’t move, he won’t even look at anyone. Other than that, he’s just fine”.
He was still there three days later and we even broke that record after another arrest at six days!
You can bet I was proud of that boy. Yes, he had bitten a few people. Never anyone who didn’t have it coming, mind you, but he had a record a mile long. Like his daddy!
We had actually been ‘on the run’ for about a year, ever since a false police report made by HB Police officer ‘Potter’ which resulted in champion being declared a ‘potentially dangerous dog’ by a kangaroo court presided over by crooked Orange County Animal Control officer Lieutenant Whelan. And so we spent the entire 2004 election campaign living in a borrowed RV out of town in a Wal Mart parking lot. My own RV –plastered with bumper stickers- was just too damned hot. An Orange County Animal Control officer searching for my dog once even said of it, “That RV is part of Huntington Beach history!”
In the end, Animal control came really close to pulling Champion out of the RV’s passenger window one morning while I was out riding my bicycle. Hearing about it from shanty-town neighbors upon my return, I decided enough was enough. Since champ was only wanted in Orange County*, I took stock of my feelings and priorities, decided my first allegiance was to my dog and we left town the next morning.
*I am sure that was their plan the whole while- to get me the hell out of Orange County. Of course, this was supposed to happen before we stopped the sewage waiver, but that didn’t work out for them. We also stopped what would have been the western hemisphere’s biggest desalination plant too. In fact, I’m sure they’re very happy I’m someone else’s headache now because as I write these words, they are presenting a soft-money constructed Huntington Beach city council with a re-circulated EIR (Environmental Impact Report), trying to push the desal plant through without me there to fight it.
Anyway, I sent out this next e mail, we hit the road and headed for Morro Bay!
Part Two
Fri Nov 5, 2004 10:36 am
joeylittleshell@yahoo.com wrote:
~Duke’s A Hazard!~
Well, I finally sold my old RV, the one my wonderful Misty dog (champ’s mom) died in on May 24th, 1998, her husband Sampson died in on his 13th birthday January 1st, 1999, my Crow Spike died in on Sept. 5th 1999 and the one I toured in for my first CD in 1999 and my second CD in 2003. She was a good old RV. I called her the ‘Pequod’ after Ahab’s ship in Moby Dick. I certainly hope the guy who bought her takes off the NO MORE BUSHIT – JAIL HURWITZ.COM – SAVE THE WILD- HONOR OUR CHILDREN HONOR OUR TREATIES NO MISSILE DEFENSE – YOU ARE ON INDIAN LAND – TREE HUGGER – NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS bumper stickers before driving into Huntington Beach with it as I am quite despised there by the developer-zoids and their cop army.
I am doing some fine tuning on the new rig with the money, and shall now call on ahead to the evil Duke Energy power plant proposed for Morro Bay:
Dear would-be estuary killers,
A word to the wise- Joey’s coming. You’ll know it when I get there. Stand by for updates everybody. Morro Bay is a beautiful place, maybe a few of you are up to the coming battle. Meet me at ‘Two Dogs’ internet café in about two weeks y’all.
