Over 17,000 Acres Were To Be Used For GA Airport

What started as an ambitious plan to expand operations at Los Angeles Palmdale Regional Airport (PMD) appears now to be on the fast track towards becoming a massive solar energy complex instead.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week on a proposition on the March 3 city ballot, that would require the massive metroplex to generate 400 megawatts of solar electricity by 2014. That has local officials looking at 4,000 undeveloped acres near PMD, purchased years ago as part of a larger 17,000-acre land tract intended for development as an intercontinental airport.

If all that land was used for a solar farm, it could generate about 25 percent of the goal espoused by the proposition, known as Measure B. "It would be like having the city's own power plant," said H. David Nahai, general manager for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "Who would say no to that?"

For one, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who has often criticized the city's narrow vision on redistributing air traffic throughout the area. His district includes Palmdale, and proponents for the solar farm would need his vote to push the project forward.

"The city of Los Angeles took this land by eminent domain for the express purpose of establishing and operating a regional airport vital to our county's ability to provide air transportation service now and in the future," Antonovich said in a prepared statement. "The city should keep its promise to the people of the Antelope Valley or give the land back to its rightful owners."

Since the land was purchased with the intent to develop an airport, the FAA would also need to approve use of the land for the solar farm.

Most traffic utilizing PMD is private-use and corporate, or connected with the US Air Force's Plant 42, which is also located there. Efforts to expand commercial service there have largely fallen flat.

The Times notes eight airlines have tried and failed to establish profitable service from PMD, with United the most recent carrier to pull out. Officials have since closed the commercial terminal, and plans are afoot to surrender the airport's operating certificate. Some city officials, including Palmdale Mayor James Ledford, continue to work to attract new airline service.

"A solar farm. That is a far cry from an airport," Ledford said, adding Los Angeles World Airports "has never approached us about this."

FMI: www.lawa.org/flylapalmdale/