Post Industrial Motif

“Three stacks and a rock” is how Morro Bay is sometimes described by locals referring to the 580 foot rock monolith in its bay and the 450 foot smokestacks of its shuttered power plant.

When it was built by PG&E in the 1950s it was welcomed as a boon to the post war recession economy of the town of 11,000. Then in 2012 Dynergy, PG&E’s successor, closed the plant leaving an economic crater and a protruding eyesore with no mitigation plan or budget to remove it. Before the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and in the thrall of the plant's economic largess no one thought about negotiating a clean-up commitment from the utility should the plant ever close. And Morro Bay with an annual operating budget of $10,000,000 can scarcely bear the $30,000,000 needed to demolish and remove the plant.

“Where is the corporate responsibility in America?” asked Morro Bay mayor Jamie Irons. Left unfettered corporate responsibility is to profit, Mr. Mayor. It’s a simple as that.

On the plus side, Morro Bay’s three finger salute in the fog gave me these.