Natural gas generator possible near Boulder City

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A Texas-based company has approached Boulder City officials to lease a site in Eldorado Valley, south of Las Vegas, to build a natural gas generator to produce electricity.

The proposed 400-megawatt generating plant could help Nevada Power Co. meet electrical demands in summer months and some might go to San Diego or other Southern California cities.

It will cost about $200 million to build, with $180 million of that for construction, said David Greeson, a director of Houston Industries Energy, the company in charge of the project.

The Boulder City Council and residents will receive a presentation Jan. 28 from Houston Industries, parent company of HI Energy, said acting Boulder City Manager Robert Boyer.

HI Energy formed a partnership with Enova Energy, a subsidiary of Enova Corp., parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

The company is exploring a site at the south end of Eldorado Valley, about 15 miles south of Railroad Pass, that is owned by Boulder City, Boyer said. The City Council would need to grant a use permit.

Greeson said HI Energy selected the area because natural gas is abundant through three major national lines: Kearn River, Trans-Western and El Paso. "The competition drives down the natural gas prices."

With major power transmission lines such as the federal Western Area Power Administration and the L.A. Department of Water & Power running through Eldorado Valley, there are plenty of ways to market the power, Greeson said.

Las Vegas attorney Joe Brown represents the project.

"We have no assurance that the citizens of Boulder City will want it there," Brown said, but the proposal uses the best technology available. As far as emissions, there are "virtually none," he added.

"It's a good thing for Boulder City," Brown said. The city could receive revenues from the lease, taxes, water supplied to the company and provide peaking power to the city the federal government built when it constructed Hoover Dam.

The project will protect any endangered or threatened desert habitat, such as land for the Mojave Desert tortoise, listed as a threatened species.

Preliminary talks have begun with the Corporation for Solar Technology and Renewable Resources for solar development, Brown said.

County Health District's Michael Naylor, director of the Air Pollution Control Division, said the project will need an air quality permit to operate.

But smaller projects, such as Saguaro Cogeneration plant near Henderson, Nevada Sunpeak project at Vegas Valley Drive and Las Vegas Cogeneration plant in North Las Vegas, produce more pollutants, he said.

If Boulder City accepts the project, the company will also need a permit from the Nevada Public Service Commission.

Nevada Power has not formally accepted the project, but preliminary discussions are planned, spokesman Tom Henley said.

Although Southwest Gas Corp. supplies Southern Nevada with natural gas from El Paso pipelines, they have been informed of the project, but are not part of it.