Power plays in perspective

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001 | 11:09 a.m.

Contrary to what federal and state officials would like to see, don't expect a flood of new power plants in Clark County, a county health district administrator said Monday.

Lucinda Parker, acting supervisor for permitting for the Clark County Health District's Air Quality Division, said that of eight proposed new generating plants in the county, two might be approved.

"There are eight of them on my desk," she said. "Six of them are fishing expeditions."

The federal Bureau of Land Management and Gov. Kenny Guinn have said that they will expedite the review and approval process for new plants. The effort is in response to a critical shortage in electric capacity in California, a shortage that has caused rolling blackouts in the Golden State.

A spokesman for Guinn's office and Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny said policies that get in the way of speedy review and approval might have to be changed.

Parker said the drive for quick review of new plants won't change the local timeline. She said her office will let the lights go off before approving a project that would compromise the county's air quality.

"I am in no rush to permit them," Parker said. "They are by no means being locally fast-tracked."

She said the air quality division's eight-person staff has a statutory obligation to thoroughly review applications, invite public comment and hold public hearings on new applications. Little can be done to trim the timeline on the process, she said.

Putting any new plants in the Las Vegas area will take a minimum of two years in any case because of the permitting and construction time, officials with power companies predict. The new plants will not come on line in time to avoid an expected power shortage this summer, when the use of air conditioners doubles the state's electricity consumption.

Guinn has warned that mandatory conservation efforts might be necessary this summer, when Nevada will have to compete with other states for electricity. State officials have not ruled out the possibility of blackouts here during the peak usage days of the summer.

But the drive to build more plants could conflict with the local need to protect air quality. The region is under a federal mandate to create and enforce air quality rules for carbon monoxide and fine dust, and could face similar "nonattainment" status for a third pollutant, ozone, if new federal rules are put in place.

Most of the plants proposed for Clark County would be natural-gas fired generators. The technology is cleaner than other forms of generation, notably coal-fired plants, but still puts emissions into the air.

"I will not issue a permit that is going to degrade local air quality," Parker said. "I have a problem putting any new plants in nonattainment areas."

Not only are new plants proposed for the county, but companies owning three existing plants are seeking to expand their generating capacity -- and therefore their airborne emissions, Parker said.

Approval for an application to build or expand power plants will come on a basis of "strictly science" and the projected environmental impact, she said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of approving the local air quality plans. EPA Director Christine Todd Whitman has joined other federal officials in calling for quick power plant construction.

EPA spokesman David Albright in the agency's regional administrative offices in San Francisco said it "would be extraordinary" for the EPA to overrule a health district veto of a new plant.

"The Clark County Health District is the front-line permitting agency," he said. The EPA has an oversight role, but usually would be in the position of disallowing a proposed pollutant emitter, he said.

Jack Finn, Guinn's press secretary, said the local regulatory process is not at odds with the state's emphasis on speedy approval of new power plants.

Building new plants must be balanced by protecting environmental quality, Finn said. Jolaine Johnson, deputy administrator with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, agreed.

"He has not asked us to compromise environmental quality and is certainly not suggesting that we turn our back on existing regulations to protect public health," Johnson said.

But Finn said the administration in Carson City might look at changing some environmental rules to speed up the process.

"That's one of the aspects of this whole issue that needs to be examined," he said.

County Commissioner Kenny said stalling or stopping creation of new plants in the region is "a silly notion."

"We have to accommodate and work with the power industry to find the safest and cleanest way to bring power to the community," Kenny said.

Kenny is a member of the Clark County District Board of Health, the policymaking board that oversees the health district and air quality division. She said policy changes might be needed to bring more plants to the area.

"If there are things that are not practical, then we need to address those from a policy standpoint," Kenny said.

Kenny said the need for power in the summer months was pre-eminent. A blackout during the 100-degree-plus days could endanger the lives of older people and the very young, she said.

Environmentalists, however, have been critical of building so many plants, at least eight in the region, when most of those plants would be "merchant" generators selling power to any distributor willing to pay the price.

Likely buyers would be distributors in California, where the energy shortage is most acute. Environmentalists fear that California may export air and water pollution to Nevada while consuming most of the new power produced here.

Companies seeking to build the plants admit that they would like to sell wherever it is profitable, but they have said they will comply with any and all environmental rules in place.

"We will comply with everything we need to comply with to make this a reality," said Richard Fernandez, a Duke Energy spokesman. The Houston-based company wants to build a 1,200-megawatt power station northeast of Las Vegas.

One megawatt produces enough power for about 1,000 homes, at least in the winter months. Power demand in the summer can cut that rate in half.

Fred Turnier, vice president of Industrial Properties Development Inc., said he doesn't believe enforcing environmental rules has to block construction of power plants within his company's Apex Industrial Park north of Las Vegas.

Three new plants are proposed inside the border of the park, and the company invites other offers, he said.

Turnier said the plants can be engineered to avoid any air quality impact on the air in Clark County.

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