The CV Link, a proposed bike path / clusterfuck, had a public hearing in Palm Springs on Monday. As is the case with residents when it comes to an infrastructure project, many residents came to speak in favor for the path – except those who live in the neighborhood the path is set to run through. It’s kind of like jails – everyone wants more of them, just not in their backyard. And while there has been a lot of focus on where the path will run, there is another part of the project that should probably be getting more attention.
Via Desert Sun (emphasis by me):
Not all the feedback was Palm Springs-centric. Several people questioned some of the project’s key assumptions, including the environmental benefits valley-wide. One of the selling points of the CV Link was the partial off-set of emissions created by the Sentinel power plant in Desert Hot Springs. The natural gas-fired plant, as of 2014, was operating at a third of its capacity, but had the potential to release more than 112,000 pounds of PM10, an airborne particulate, per year.
In 2015, an outside study found that the pathway — by taking some motorists off the road — would reduce valley PM10 emissions by just 0.38 percent by 2021 and by a slightly less amount by 2035. CVAG’s environmental impact report estimates that the pathway would reduce PM10 emissions at a rate of 33.35 pounds per day by 2040.
So while Desert Hot Springs sees a power plant release particulates into the air, the path will do hardly anything to reduce any emissions at all. Doesn’t really seem like a fair trade.
I would like to elaborate more on just where all the funds for the CV Link come from (or how their “misleading presentaton” lost $24 million in grants), but the website for CV Link gives almost zero information on that, but it does have plenty of info about all the advertising awards they have won.
Priorities I guess.
According to the Desert Sun, Nicole Criste, a consultant who helped produce the environmental impact report, will address the project’s air quality benefits after the report’s period for public comment expired – which is just perfect. Release the info at a time when no one will be able to question it. Because of course!
A project this big demands more transparency – but, I guess there is no time for that when you are trying to win an American Advertising Award.
