Yesterday, LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) put out its long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Review (EIR) for plans to retrofit the Scattergood gas facility to burn a mix of methane and hydrogen. 

Andrea Vega, Senior Southern California Organizer for Food & Water Watch released the following statement:  

“As expected, the Draft EIR put out by LADWP fails to take into account the true emissions impact of retrofitting the Scattergood facility to burn hydrogen and ignores the facility’s proximity to communities like Inglewood, Hawthorne and Lennox whose air quality has already long been negatively impacted by fossil fuel infrastructure. It also sidelines ratepayers, who will bear the financial burden of this costly, water-intensive project. Analysis from Food & Water Watch shows that it would take over 1.5 billion gallons of water to realize plans to make Los Angeles a “Hydrogen Hub” by 2045  – which is a very dangerous prospect for a state experiencing extreme periods of drought and flooding, as California does.

“LADWP must reassess plans to retrofit Scattergood and instead focus on proven, sustainable, renewable energies. LADWP even outlined in one of their Project Alternatives the implementation of a grid-scale battery energy storage system, and acknowledged that such a project would be both feasible and reduce environmental impacts. Los Angeles needs real clean energy solutions, not schemes that will further enrich the fossil fuel industry.”