Power plant building urged by Herrera

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Clark County government should make an effort to promote the quick construction of power plants in the region, County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera said Wednesday.

Herrera said the county should create a working group or task force to identify current procedures and suggest ways that approvals could be expedited. He said he will put the issue on the commission's March 6 agenda for discussion.

The effort does not mean the county will compromise environmental protections, he said. Environmental rules now in place are largely a byproduct of federal clean air and clean water regulations.

Clark County is under a federal edict to draft and enforce plans to control two types of air pollution: carbon monoxide and fine dust.

On Monday, the acting supervisor for permitting at the Clark County Health District's Air Quality Division said she would not bend environmental oversight for putting new plants in the Las Vegas area. Lucinda Parker also said she believed that perhaps two of the eight new plants now proposed would be built.

On Tuesday, the Boulder City Council asked to withdraw from the air-quality region under the administration of the health district in order to aid approval of a new sister plant to the Eldorado electric plant about 10 miles southwest of the city in the El Dorado Valley.

Herrera said that if the County Commission approves his proposal for a group to work on county rules, he will bring the proposal to the Regional Planning Coalition.

The coalition, an advisory board, brings together elected representatives from Clark County, the cities in the county and the school board to discuss issues that affect the region.

State and local policy makers are grappling with an expected shortfall in energy supply, a problem vividly illustrated by California's soaring utility bills and sporadic blackouts.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has warned that mandatory conservation efforts could be imposed in Nevada this summer, when energy usage doubles as air conditioners come on.

California Gov. Gray Davis has already imposed such measures. The state also has relaxed environmental rules to allow some generators to keep operating.

Herrera stressed that the county's effort to hasten power plant construction will not mean a lowering of environmental standards, a concern of Clark County environmental activists.

"This in no way, shape or form presents a tension between the development of power plants and environmental protection," he said.

Probably the soonest that new plants could contribute to energy in the Las Vegas area would be two to three years down the road. That will mean a very tight energy supply for the region over the next several summers.

Sonia Headen, spokeswoman for Nevada Power, said her company has long term contracts that should keep the air conditioners running absent "a major disruption" in electric supplies.