(San Diego, CA) – PG&E Corporation
(NYSE: PCG) and Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WMI) announced today
that they have joined forces for a program that will use emission
reductions in a 120-truck refuse collection fleet to pave the way
for construction of a much-needed power plant in San Diego County.
This is the first time that emission reductions from mobile sources
have been used to offset emissions from a major new stationary source.
The companies plan to replace
120 diesel-fueled refuse collection trucks with new Mack trucks
fueled by clean-burning natural gas. As a result, air emissions
will be reduced by more than 50 percent. The air emission credits
gained through the reductions will be used by the PG&E National
Energy Group (PG&E NEG) to offset emissions from the Otay Mesa Generating
Project, a proposed 500-megawatt plant to be built outside of San
Diego.
Like a number of local governments,
San Diego County manages its air quality within a regulatory framework
that requires new sources of emissions to be offset by reductions
from other sources. In most cases, those offsets have come from
emission reductions at stationary sources, such as power plants
and manufacturing facilities. This project is the first in the nation
to offset emissions from a new power plant by reducing emissions
from mobile sources.
"As we have seen this summer,
there is a critical need for new power supplies in California, including
the San Diego region. New base-load power plants, like Otay Mesa,
are the long-term solution to the immediate problem," said Thomas
B. King, president and chief operating officer of the PG&E National
Energy Group's West Region.
"This project is a ground-breaking,
win-win strategy that helps bring the region the new sources of
power it needs while improving San Diego's air quality." King added.
"We are very grateful to all of the regulatory agencies that worked
with us to pioneer this new approach to emission control, including
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources
Board, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District and the
California Energy Commission."
A. Maurice Myers, chairman
and CEO of Waste Management noted: "We are an environmental services
company, and we are committed to using new technologies and developing
unique partnerships to improve our most precious environmental resource
- the air we breathe."
"Waste Management has been
experimenting with a variety of clean fuel technologies for nearly
a decade," Myers continued. "By partnership with the PG&E National
Energy Group, we are able to move from pilot projects to full-scale
commercial deployment. In 18 months, Waste Management of San Diego
will have the cleanest fleet of heavy-duty trucks in the world."
Construction of the Otay
Mesa Generating Project is expected to begin in early 2001, immediately
after the project gains final approval from the California Energy
Commission. It is scheduled to begin commercial operation in mid-2003.
The first major power plant
to be built in San Diego County in about 30 years, the facility
will generate enough power for half a million homes. The plant will
be equipped with state-of-the-art emission control equipment which,
when combined with the precedent-setting mobile offset program,
will make it one of the cleanest fossil-fueled generating plants
ever built.
"We have a tremendous need
for new generation in San Diego County and this project will help
meet that need," said Greg Cox, the San Diego County supervisor
in whose district the plant will be sited. "Just as importantly,
the innovative emissions offset program devised by Waste Management
and PG&E National Energy Group demonstrates that high environmental
standards can be met at the same time new energy is generated. The
result of this effort will be clean energy and cleaner neighborhoods
for the residents of San Diego County."
In order to reduce air emissions,
Waste Management has agreed to greatly accelerate the replacement
of its current fleet of refuse trucks. A total of 120 trucks will
be replaced during an 18-month period. PG&E NEG will pay Waste Management
the difference in cost between replacing the existing trucks with
updated diesel-fueled engines and replacing them with the more expensive
liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel systems. PG&E NEG also will pay
for the construction of a new LNG fuel station that will be available
for other fleets that convert to LNG.
PG&E NEG and Waste Management
together will spend $33 million on the fleet conversion project.
The fleet conversion project
will reduce smog-forming emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by more
than 35 tons per year. The emissions reductions are the equivalent
of removing 9,200 new passenger cars from San Diego County roads.
Felicia Marcus, Regional
Administrator of the U.S. EPA's Region IX, said, "The Otay Mesa
mobile emission reduction credit program will provide NOx reductions
as well as control of diesel particulates and other toxic compounds
in the San Diego regions. We're happy to support such an innovative,
common sense approach to producing cleaner energy while cleaning
our air."
The Waste Management offset
program will provide about one-third of the NOx offsets needed for
the Otay Mesa Generating Project. Other emission offsets were acquired
from San Diego Harbor Excursions, through conversion of two of their
vessels to cleaner-burning fuel, and from stationary sources in
San Diego County.
PG&E Corporation, with revenues
of more that $20 billion and operations in 21 states, markets energy
services and products throughout North America. The Corporation
owns or controls some 7,000 megawatts across the nation and another
14,000 megawatts under development or construction. Among those
projects if the LaPaloma Generating Project, a 1,000-megawatt plant
under construction near Bakersfield, CA. PG&E Corporation's businesses
also include Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the Northern and
Central California utility that delivers natural gas and electricity
to one in every twenty Americans.
Waste Management, Inc.,
is its industry's leading provider of comprehensive waste management
services. Based in Houston, the Company serves municipal, commercial,
industrial, and residential customers throughout North America.