News concerning CPN/AIGI relationship:
NEWS fron the Desert Sun
tribe
Project is first for Torres-Martinez
By Benjamin Spillman
The Desert Sun
June 21, 2000
To the majority of the people in the
Coachella Valley, the
600-megawatt, natural-gas-fired
power plant proposed near Mecca by a San Jose energy
company means enough electricity to fuel as many as 600,000
power-hungry Southern California homes.
But to the more than 200 people who live on the Torres-Martinez
Desert Cahuilla Indian reservation, the power plant represents the
first brick in the road to economic independence.
?A power plant as the first project in economic development
speaks volumes for what this tribe will have accomplished,? said
Torres-Martinez Project Coordinator Bobbi Fletcher of plans to
build the plant. ?This is primarily a rural, agricultural area. In order
to develop infrastructure, there has to be something that comes
first.?
Torres-Martinez officials are looking forward to the financial
windfall they expect to reap through a land lease and the sale of
water to operate the plant.
They expect the payout to construction workers to be about $20
million and for the plant?s work force to earn about $1.5 million
annually.
County property-tax revenue also could increase by about $2.4
million annually because of the plant.
?I see it as being a very big stepping stone,? said Tribal
Chairwoman Mary Belardo. ?(Development plans) have always
been on our mind, but we didn?t have any money.?
The Torres-Martinez is a nongaming tribe and, until recently, its
isolated location had been an obstacle to development, Belardo
said.
Desperate: She described many of the people who have
approached the tribe with economic development plans as
?fly-by-night? operators who assumed the tribe was desperate
enough to pursue any opportunity.
?They have all these grandiose ideas. They don?t have a dime in
their pocket. We?ve been attracting these kind of people, but
never did any business with them,? Belardo said.
She said the tribe?s patience paid off when they were
approached by American Indian businessman John W. Adair of
Houston who had a plan to bring plant developers to the
Torres-Martinez reservation.
?The Torres-Martinez is located in an area that is in need of
power,? Adair, chairman and CEO of Adair International Oil and
Gas Inc., said of the reservation?s proximity to high-capacity
natural gas and electrical power lines.
The tribe announced June 14 it was pursuing the $275 million
power plant to be built on its reservation at the north end of the
Salton Sea.
The plant would take as many as 250 workers to build and about
23 employees to operate.
Plan: Calpine Corp. of San Jose, the company that would
construct the plant, has not officially announced its plans to build,
but has finalized negotiations with the tribe.
?Nothing is a slam dunk,? said Calpine spokesman Kent
Robertson. ?We have to address every issue that could possibly
come up with building this plant.?
Robertson said construction could begin in the middle of 2001
and the plant could be operational in late 2003.
?Only time will tell how good of a match it has been,? Adair said. |
