Landowners are still concerned about a proposed power plant that may be built on Bethel and Dinuba avenues.

"The concern that we had is that we were never really notified of this and given an opportunity to speak for the plan or against the plan, not only the power plant, but the wastewater treatment plant," said Aurora Martinez, a landowner who lives near the proposed development.

Martinez has been organizing other landowners and conferring with the Indianola Parent Club's Julie Baley to protest.

"Our concern is that it's so close, not only so close to home and the school, but agriculture itself. I don't care what anybody says, there's going to be some contamination to the agriculture," she said.

Martinez was also concerned that the smell and aesthetics of the plant would bring down land values.

According to a Frequently Asked Questions sheet from the Kings River Conservation District, which will build the plant, a base-load power plant is needed to meet future energy demands for a growing population. The district is in the permitting process, and has not yet submitted an application to the California Energy Commission.

Cristel Tufenkjian, spokesperson for the KRCD, said in an earlier interview that the landowners had been notified as part of a preliminary data process.

"I think people just took the giant leap to, 'The plant's going to be built,'" she said. "Once we get all this data together, we would put an application with the Energy Commission."

Tufenkjian said the permitting process for California is one of the most rigorous in the nation.

"They'll make sure all the data is good, and that's what we're doing right now," said Tufenkjian.

Martinez didn't see why the city of Parlier wants to purchase more land for the gas power plant, when the land it has now should be enough.

"They already have the property to do what they need," said Martinez. "They want to extend their sphere of influence, and we don't want that."

Parlier City Manager Lou Martinez said that the site on Bethel and Dinuba avenues was chosen because of its central location.

"Because Selma is coming in our direction, there's some concern," he said. "Our plan was always to make that part industrial."

He said the city of Parlier likes the idea because the plant will lower energy costs and will be a more reliable source of power. The plant is part of KRCD's Community Choice program, which 13 cities and two counties are participating in. This includes Selma, Parlier and Kingsburg.

"All of the cities participating, Selma being one of them, are saying this is a good idea for all of us. Otherwise, we wouldn't have participated," said Martinez.

Martinez added: "Whether the power plant goes up or not, we're still going to be request to expand our sphere of influence."

Judy Case, a member of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, said she hasn't seen the details of the proposed power plant. The board was asked to approve the city of Parlier's sphere of influence.

"They wanted a very large expansion of their sphere of influence," said Case. "The board wasn't really willing to do that anyway ... it's just too big. It's too much land."

She said she doesn't agree with Parlier's desire to expand its sphere of influence because of the effect it would have on the area as a whole.

"I think there needs to be some effort to ... keep our cities from growing together, to keep them more distinct communities," said Case.

A representative of the Abajian family, who lives across from the proposed power plant site, opposes the idea because of its proximity to local residences.

"This is a perfect example of poor planning," she said. "There's a great concern for land value. It'll bottom us out."

She said an industrialized area would also be bad for nearby schools, such as Indianola Elementary.

"It's not only me that's going to be directly affected... [it's a] nice project, but wrong area. It's near a school, and it's near a residential area... I think there are other options."

The citizen asked not to be named because of the nature of her employment. She said the Fresno County Board of Supervisors should engage the landowners, such as herself, who will be most affected.

"It's all going to be part of Community Choice, but Community Choice has never knocked on my door, the person who's going to be most affected," she said.

While this person was also concerned about emissions, the KRCD FAQ said that natural gas is the cleanest type of fossil fuels.

"The plant will emit no visible pollutants and will meet federal and state requirement for emissions," it said. "Emission offsets, also called Emission Reduction Credits, will be acquired to reduce the overall impact on the service area to zero."

The citizen was also concerned about the size and emissions of the smokestacks.

"They make emissions, they make noise, and they're huge," she said.

The KRCD addresses some of these issues in their FAQ as well. It says, "The exhaust coming out of the stacks will be similar to what comes out of someone's natural gas furnace, except that it will be cleaner since best available control technology will greatly reduce emissions such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The plant will have two main stacks that are 150 feet tall. The height of these stacks is determined by air emission modeling that calculates the height needed to disperse the emissions coming from the plant in the cleanest manner possible."

Martinez said that while the KRCD plans to have an "open house" meeting to address citizens' concerns on April 19, she wanted a more formal meeting with an agenda.

"We want it as a public meeting, so we can have somebody on stage address the audience's questions," she said.

Martinez said she will try to organize other concerned landowners, parents and developers who plan to build in the region.

"What we're trying to do is, we're trying to organize to stop this," she said. "Because we don't want it."

The Kings River Conservation District's open house will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on April 19 at the Parlier Community Center. KRCD requests that every interested party who wants to attend RSVP by April 11 to Anna Miller, public affairs associate at Kings River Conservation District, 4886 E. Jensen Ave., Fresno, CA 93725.

Miller can be reached at 237-5567 ext. 116, or by e-mail at amiller@krcd.org. Miller can also be contacted to have extra flyers about the meeting sent to interested parties.

(March 21, 2007)