Proposed Goodsprings power plant opposed

Thursday, April 4, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

A power plant proposed for southern Clark County received a rocky reception at a public hearing Wednesday, and could face more difficult times ahead.

Diamond Generating, a subsidiary of the multinational Mitsubishi Corp., wants to build the 500-megawatt plant about two miles southeast of Goodsprings. Some residents there do not want the natural gas-fired plant in their desert valley.

Residents spoke against the proposed plant at a Clark County Commission zoning meeting Wednesday. Diamond Generating seeks zoning to build the plant on land that would be leased from the Bureau of Land Management.

The commission voted to delay action on the proposal until July to give the county's Air Quality Management Department and Goodsprings residents time to work with Diamond Generating.

"What they are doing does, in fact, have a very long-term impact on a part of the valley that up to now has been a very pleasant place," said Liz Warren, chairwoman of the Goodsprings Citizens Advisory Council, which advises the commission on land use issues affecting the area.

Warren and other residents said they are concerned that the project and traffic associated with the plant's construction will disrupt life in the rural area, which had about 250 residents in the 2000 Census.

They also argue that it will threaten rare animals such as the bighorn sheep and desert tortoise.

But the biggest problem for the proposed plant may not be the people who live in the area, but in the air.

Air Quality Management staffers are trying to determine how much pollution the region can accept under federal rules. Their chief concern is making sure the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport, which would be a few miles from the power plant, can be built and operated.

"We will be looking at this project very, very carefully," said Lucinda Parker, a permit specialist for the air quality department. "There's only so much pollution that you can put in that bowl."

Clark County airport officials have argued that the only realistic place to locate a new major airport is the Ivanpah Valley. They hope to open the new airport around 2011.

Diamond Generating spokesman Bill Davis believes there is room in the "airshed" for both the airport and his company's power plant, which he said would produce very little pollution.

But Commissioner Erin Kenny said the county would like to hold off on approving the site until staff feels there is room for the power plant, the airport and other potential polluters that already have applied for emissions permits.

Diamond Generating attorney Paul Larsen said the three-month delay could push back the project's timeline and affect the company's efforts to produce a full environmental impact statement, a necessary study since the plant is planned for federally managed land.

The company hopes to break ground on the $400 million plant in January and go online with electricity two years later. The merchant plant, which would sell power to the highest bidder, could produce enough power for about 250,000 homes in Southern Nevada during summer months.