Power plant steam brings mold, bakery charges

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Power plant steam brings mold, bakery charges

North County Times - Escondido,CA,

By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/19/news/top_stories/1_04_565_

18_07.txt

ESCONDIDO -- An Escondido bakery next to the Palomar Energy Center

has filed a complaint with the California Energy Commission over

mold that allegedly forms as a result of the power plant's cooling

towers.

Bimbo Bakeries USA reported that the bakery, on Aldergrove Avenue

near the Escondido Auto Park, had been having more bread returned

because of mold since the power plant started commercial operations

a year ago.

" We think there's a link, " company spokesman Margulies said

this week.

San Diego Gas & Electric Co., the power plant's operator, was not

contacted directly by the bakery, utility spokesman Hidalgo

said.

The plume that is sometimes visible above the natural gas-fired

power plant is steam, the equivalent of around 2 million gallons of

water per day.

Margulies stressed that the bakery had eliminated the mold but

wanted to avoid future problems.

A February letter to the Energy Commission from the bakery manager

says the bakery had to add more mold inhibitor to its products,

install more air filters and remove a patch of mold from its roof

that had appeared in the last year.

The Energy Commission is sending staff members to Escondido to

investigate in the next month, spokeswoman Chandler said

Friday.

" There's not necessarily mold inside the stacks of the cooling

towers, " she said, saying that the possibility exists that the

reported increase in mold may have simply come from more moisture.

Operator San Diego Gas & Electric is required to test the cooling

towers for bacteria every week and Legionnaire's disease every

quarter, according to a report from the Energy Commission.

A summary of the test results for the power plant's first year of

operation says that all were within the limits specified by the

Energy Commission.

The complaint, according to Chandler, caused the Energy Commission

to delay approval for a $10 million air intake chiller that was

supposed to make the power plant work more efficiently starting this

summer.

The chiller could have boosted the plant's capacity by about 40

megawatts in hot weather. Its stated capacity is 546 megawatts --

enough to serve 350,000 homes -- in cool weather.

Critics of the power plant's design, such as energy industry

watchdog Bill Powers, previously said that impurities in the

recycled water used in its cooling towers could make them harder to

disinfect.

The letter from the bakery manager says that last summer, he took

pictures of the cooling towers showing that they were " covered with

mold " only to see them pressure-washed the next day.

It also says that employees reported finding mold in the bakery to

the Centers for Disease Control, which had federal health inspectors

advise the company to install more air filters and other sanitary

precautions.

The 16-year-old bakery produces an average of 4.2 million rolls and

loaves every month, distributed throughout California, Arizona and

Nevada. Bimbo-affiliated brands include Orowheat, ' and

Entenmann's.

The city of Escondido's Web site lists the bakery as one of its top

25 employers, with around 250 employees.

Bimbo Bakeries USA is headquartered in Fort Worth and is the United

States division of Mexico's Grupo Bimbo.

-- Contact staff writer Quinn Eastman at qeastman@....