Piece by piece, it’s coming apart. Disintegrating. The demolition has been a long, slow process.

The Encina Power Station, located between Agua Hedionda Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean, opened in 1954 and was decommissioned in 2018. The stack was erected years later in 1978.

I remember when the stack was decorated for the holidays with bright and colorful lights, but they stopped doing that a long time ago.

Even so, It’s been a welcoming beacon and landmark to let us know we’re getting close to home sweet home.

Here’s what’s going to take its place…“The Carlsbad Energy Center will be built behind the present location of the Encina Power Station, and will add two new smokestacks with solely industrial purposes. Each smokestack will tower over 100 feet tall and add something the citizens of Carlsbad will have no choice in beautifying. One smokestack with a historic past and a potential for a brilliant future will be replaced by two ten-story towers to serve the new power plant. Meanwhile, neither the City of Carlsbad nor NRG have any concrete plans in place for what will happen after plant is destroyed.”
(From http://www.savethecarlsbadstack.com)

As usual, most of Carlsbad’s elected officials have failed to include the desires of the community in the planning process.

These unfiltered, unedited photos were taken yesterday at about 5:15 p.m. just as the sun was heading toward the horizon. I think it’s this lack of light along with the streaky clouds that account for the hazy, almost sepia-toned quality.