The networking giant was chastised for its ongoing opposition to a proposed power plant in San Jose last week, at the beginning of a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on California's energy woes. Murkowski's comments are the latest salvo in what may be the most curious skirmish of California's ongoing energy crisis. Cisco is fighting to stop Calpine from building a 600-megawatt power plant in the Coyote Valley, one of the last large, undeveloped tracts in the region. Cisco has its own plans for the Coyote Valley. This plant is not that solution.
Cisco is the only tech company in Silicon Valley publicly opposed to the power plant.
Cisco insists the plant will be too close to neighborhoods and will further degrade the region's air quality. The San Jose City Council agrees. In November, it voted unanimously against changing the zoning on the 20 acres where Calpine wants to build its gas-fired plant. There's no question that San Jose needs the power. According to the California Independent System Operator, San Jose uses about 2,500 megawatts of power per day, but produces only 165 megawatts.