You think having a power plant in your backyard is scary? What if you heard that a giant defense company was planning to build a plant near you that would use explosive and toxic chemicals to make a powerful product used in some of the most destructive weapons known to man? Would you object? Well, it's too late. It's already here. If you are under 30 years old, it was here before you were born. If your house is less than 30 years old, the plant was in your backyard before you even had a backyard. The plant is the United Technologies/Pratt & Whitney Chemical Systems Division rocket plant on Metcalf Road. They make rocket motors and rocket fuel here that are used in the Titan rocket and Minuteman nuclear missile, as well as satellites and the space shuttle. If you don't believe it, look at this Web page:
http://www.pratt-whitney.com/engines/rockets.html#csd

The point is not to get worried about the rocket plant. In three decades, have you heard anyone complain about it? Have you heard of it causing any problems? Did you even know it existed? As far as I can remember, the only time it made its presence known was when it performed a spectacular and well-publicized test of a rocket engine many years ago.

If a potentially dangerous rocket plant can peacefully coexist near a suburban neighborhood, so can a power plant. The secret is its location. The reason the rocket plant doesn't bother anybody is that it's hidden in a valley in the uninhabited foothills of the Diablo Range. The hills provide a shield on all sides. You can't see it from any part of the valley, not even from the top of Coyote Peak in Santa Teresa Park. In contrast, the supposedly safe and clean Fairchild plant caused a lot more problems for people because it was located right in the middle of a suburban neighborhood.

Calpine got it half right when they proposed putting the plant next to an uninhabited hill. They just neglected to put similar hills on the other sides. The rocket plant site back in the hills would be an ideal place to put the power plant. There are already power lines and towers leading up to it. It's close to the PG&E substation. Maybe Calpine could make a deal with Pratt & Whitney and provide the rocket plant with cheap power in exchange for some land to put their power plant.

Ron Horii