Nevada gov behind pipeline project

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 12:17 p.m.

By adding to the gas supply in the region, the improved pipeline could indirectly hold down the price of electric power produced at gas-fired plants, Guinn said.

"The more supply that you can put in the ground, the better you can hold down the price," Guinn said Wednesday.

That's secondary to making sure gas supplies are adequate during the ongoing power crisis in the West, he added.

The Williams Cos. of Tulsa, Okla., plans to spend $81 million on new compression stations that would increase the amount of gas carried through the Kern River Pipeline, which runs through Nevada.

The project would increase the capacity of the pipeline by 135,000 decatherms, a unit of natural gas measurement, to 835,000.

If state and federal approvals are obtained by April 2, the company promises to complete the project by July 1. That would bring additional fuel supplies to the region for power plants when electric power use peaks because of summertime air-conditioning needs.

In addition, the gas would be sufficient to supply four proposed power plants in the Apex area north of Las Vegas when the plants come on line in late 2002 and 2003.

The fuel will come from natural gas wells in Wyoming. The Kern River Pipeline runs through Utah and southern Nevada and terminates in California near Bakersville.

It links the state with Wyoming, which has the lowest gas prices in the country, with the state with the highest prices, said Douglas Whisenant, senior vice president of Williams. He said gas costs about twice as much in California than in Wyoming.