Plant’s emission request is denied

Mary Manning and Rebecca Malone

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

LAUGHLIN -- The Nevada Environmental Commission has sided with residents who oppose easing emission standards at the Mohave Generating Station.

Citing overwhelming public opposition, the eight commission members who attended the meeting Thursday were unanimous in denying a Southern California Edison request to lift a cap on power plant emissions.

The company can submit a new application to the Environmental Commission to ease the rules, or it can sue the state.

Vice Chairman Alan Coyner called the meeting "the most contentious hearing" he has attended in his three years on the Environmental Commission. "We got an earful of what the local people think."

"It doesn't make sense to allow the oldest, possibly the dirtiest power plant to operate at a higher opacity than all the rest," commission member Mark Doppe said. "For a long time we have already paid the price of this, and I am not about to see that happen again."

Nevada regulations put a cap of 30 percent opacity -- particulate matter that contributes to reduced visibility -- on power plants. Mohave wanted to operate a total of 22 hours over a 12-month period at full capacity to help prevent California blackouts. The plant currently operates at 70 percent capacity to meet state emissions requirements.

Southern California Edison, which has a 56 percent share of the plant, had asked the commission for permission to exceed state regulations for opacity because of an anticipated demand for power.

Nevada Power owns 14 percent of the plant, which supplies power to the towns of Laughlin and Searchlight, as well as about 200,000 homes in the Las Vegas area.

Without a go-ahead to operate at increased capacity, one company official said, power customers could face blackouts.

"We are going to live by the ruling they have decided," said Nader Mansour, Southern California Edison's manager for regulations. "We will be using the energy we have, and if it runs out, then we will have blackouts."

It was the third such request made in the past year.

Previously the commission granted requests allowing the utility to exceed the cap from June 20, 2000, to Oct. 20 and from Dec. 21 to Feb. 15. The company exceeded the limit for only six minutes during that time.

The Mohave County Board of Supervisors, Clark County Air Quality Division, Concerned Citizens of the Tri-State Area and the Sierra Club of Southern Nevada were united in opposition. The towns of Bullhead City, Ariz., and Needles, Calif., also opposed the request.

About 150 residents, the vast majority of whom opposed the proposed new rules, attended Thursday's meeting.

"So many people showed up because they are sick of the white dust covering their couches and cars," Peggy Tursler, a Laughlin resident since 1979, said. "You can dust, and a couple hours later you have to dust again. You can see it coming across the river. It's disgusting."

Laughlin resident Nancy Smith said she can see a plume of smoke emanating from the plant's smokestack when driving from Los Angeles.

"There are days when you can visibly follow the brownish, yellow smoke from the stacks to places as far as Needles and farther," Smith said.

Commission member Paul Iverson said, "We are not the dumping grounds for the United States, and we are not going to be the dumping grounds."