Huntington Ordered to Revise Pitch for AES Tax

A judge Wednesday sided with the president of the AES power plant in Huntington Beach and ordered the city to rewrite most of its argument in favor of a ballot measure that would have the plant pay a 5% utility tax.

AES President Ed Blackford asked the judge last week to toss out nearly all of the city’s argument that would appear in voter pamphlets for the March ballot, including: “The plant is ugly, pollutes our air and our ocean . . . [and] has been a blight on Huntington Beach for over 40 years.”

Blackford argued that the statements were false and misleading and amounted to the city trying to impose an “ugly tax” on the corporation.

Judge Derek Brown ordered that the argument be rewritten and a new version be submitted to him Wednesday.

Mayor Debbie Cook criticized the ruling, saying the court had overstepped its bounds.

“I thought it was very odd that the court injected itself into the political process,” Cook said. “The issue is whether there is any evidence that what we’re saying is not true, and they didn’t overcome that burden as far as I’m concerned.”

Cook called a special meeting of the City Council for today at 3 p.m. to decide whether to challenge the ruling or craft “something that the court will accept.”