The removal of six, 32-foot tall oil storage tanks at the Morro Bay Power Plant, which had been planned and then cancelled twice over the past nine months, now is scheduled to take place in mid-August or early September, the plant owner, Dynegy, announced.
The removal had been set to start on May 23, Dynegy said, but was postponed because of the large number of bird nests found at the site and the need to wait until the birds have completed their nesting cycle. The birds are Kestrels, Western Gulls and Cliff Swallows. Their nests are on or near the tanks themselves, a Dynegy spokesperson said.
The removal is being overseen by the California Energy Commission, whose staff said the delay in the project is acceptable because of the need to protect the birds.
Members of the commission staff visited the plant site on March 16 when the birds nests were observed, a commission spokesperson said, and the designated biologist for the project began surveying the nests the next day and identified the species. The biologist then contacted the California Department of Fish and Game and recommended to Dynegy that the tanks removal be delayed until after the nesting season.
When the removal begins, the Dynegy spokesperson said, 18-wheel trucks with flatbed trailers will remove the debris from the tear down of the tanks. They will be traveling from the plant along the Embarcadero southward to Beach Street and then to Main Street, turning left and heading north to Highway 1 and then eastward.
The trucks will be on that path about eight hours a day between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. for an estimated six to eight weeks after the work begins.
Dynegy had intended to begin removing the tanks last August, but delays were blamed on obtaining approval from the commission, which reportedly lacked personnel to oversee the project at that time. To avoid undertaking the work in the rainy season late last year, the work was put off until this year.
Morro Bay city attorney Rob Schultz said the plant owner was required to remove the tanks starting sometime after September, 2009, if there were no plans afoot to rebuild or replace the old plant. No such plans have been submitted to the Energy Commission, and none has been discussed since 2005 when Duke Energy sold the plant and left the state.
The plant owner is required to remove the tanks under an agreement with the city to lease waterfront property on Estero Bay where water withdrawn from the Morro Bay National Estuary and used to cool the plant—when it operates, which is infrequently—is discharged heated into the ocean next to Morro Rock.
