Downside seen in race to build power plants

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001 | 11:31 a.m.

Proposed power plants face more than regulatory hurdles -- they also will face competition when a flood of new plants comes on line in the West in several years, a local regulatory official said.

Lucinda Parker, acting permitting supervisor for the Clark County Health District's Air Quality Division, called the drive to build new plants in the region "a horse race."

Of the eight applications now on her desk, she predicts that only two will get approved, and those will be "whoever gets all their paperwork in place first," she said.

"Everyone is trying to get into the race," she said. "Realistically, only a few will make it."

Using stark, apocalyptic terms, politicians nationally, statewide and locally have said approving and building new plants is the only way to prevent massive energy shortfalls.

But some consumer advocates and environmentalists have warned that if all the proposed plants throughout the Western United States are approved, there will be a huge power surplus.

"I see this as a temporary energy shortage," Parker agreed.

The scenario has implications for Clark County. Parker said the companies are likely to shut down power plants that don't make money.

But even if they aren't producing electricity, they will still control rights to use water or produce air pollution, rights that could be used by productive industries, she said.

"That is the most dangerous part of this entire horse race," she said. "Whether they run or not, they've already taken their share of environmental resources."

Power wholesalers have discounted the threat of surpluses, arguing that the growth in the region will increase electricity demand. They also say that the number of plants ultimately built will be fewer than now proposed because of permitting obstacles and competition a few years down the line.