Governor Davis Plan Could Cause More Air Pollution (KFWB) -- California is expected to experience more pollution due to increased production from gas-fired power plants this summer.

Governor Gray Davis has signed an order allowing gas-fired plants to operate longer and produce more electricity at the expense of exceeding air emission limitations. The plants would pay a mitigation fee to local air districts.

Proponents of the governor's plan say allowing plants to operate longer will pump an extra 1,200 megawatts of power into the state's grid. That could help in the state's fight in averting a month's worth of rolling blackouts this summer.

"It's something that was avoidable, but now that we're into the worst of it, maybe it's not avoidable," said Economist Peter Navarro, from the University of California, Irvine.

Navarro adds that there are serious health concerns associated with increased air pollution.

"Young children, senior citizens. . . endure what is essentially smoking a pack a day of cigarettes. This is just going to make it worse," said Economist Peter Navarro, from the University of California, Irvine.

But the concern over pollution problems may be moot if the state doesn't have enough natural gas to fuel the plants.

Natural gas is in short supply and expensive. Many plants have opted to buy gas under cheaper "interruptible" prices, which makes the supply less reliable.

And with an increase of new power plants consuming natural gas, the gas pipeline infrastructure may not be adequate to deliver reliable supplies to all its customers.

"The governor's whole strategy on the supply side is predicated on getting some new plants on line," said Navarro, adding that there is "some very serious concern" about the supply of natural gas to fuel the plants.

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), June 12, 2001