Arguments vs. Facts
Ad hominem attacks and generalizations about the Coalition fall when held up to the facts. Click through to read responses to often levied but meritless arguments regarding the Coalition.
ARGUMENT: “If the DWP wants to build it on the lot next to Marquez Charter Elementary School, it must be necessary.”
FACT: The DWP has never objectively or fully demonstrated that a new electrical distributing station is absolutely necessary, aside from stating that increased and future demands in electrical consumption across the Palisades will need to be met. The DWP has never objectively or fully demonstrated why such future needs cannot be met by combining various alternative sustainable energy solutions – such as, demand response programs, energy conservation programs, building efficiency retrofits, local renewable energy generation etc. But even assuming that a new station were the only way to relieve the existing station, there is nothing to suggest why it must be built on the lot next to Marquez Charter Elementary School.
The DWP has never adequately explained why the new distributing station “must” be in the middle of Marquez Knolls, let alone next door to Marquez Charter, except to say that it is technically or logistically desirable to do so because its main electrical “trunk line” runs along Sunset Boulevard, through Marquez Avenue, and back to Sunset. DWP engineers have acknowledged that it is neither impossible nor unrealistic to expect the DWP to make technical or logistical accommodations to extend power from an area that is not in the “bull’s eye” of their preferred area; it is just a matter of cost, efficiency and expediency.
The key to placing a new distributing station in service as quickly as possible is an appropriate location. Insisting on a clearly unsuitable or inappropriate site – i.e., the Marquez lot – will guarantee complications during the environmental review process and an inevitable legal challenge. To ensure that the new station is built and placed into service in a timely manner, the most logical course of action is to find a site that is suitable and appropriate, and pursue it with all deliberate speed.