Demolition starts at old Mecca power plant as advocates wait on soil test results
MECCA, Calif. (KESQ) A community group says demolition has started at the shuttered Desert View Power plant near Mecca, and neighbors still haven’t seen results from soil and water testing at the site.
Krystal Otworth, a policy advocate with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, said some panels have already come down. She said the site is being tested, and she’s concerned the soil may contain arsenic, lead and mercury.
“Right now we don’t have the results of those site tests,” Otworth said.
Otworth said she has not seen dust coming from the site herself. She’s asking people who live nearby to wear a mask, run an air purifier if they have one and report any dust they see.
The plant sits on the Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians’ reservation. Otworth said the tribe and the facility are leading the testing and overseeing the demolition. She said her group has emailed the tribe and is waiting for a response, and no date is set for the next community meeting.
Otworth said the group pushed for years to close the plant over air pollution, and she called the demolition a step in the right direction.
The plant opened in 1992 and has been idle since April 2024. In June 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation alleging the plant exceeded limits for mercury and other pollutants and did not run required annual mercury tests from 2017 through 2020.
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