Two area power plants among dirtiest in U.S.

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

Two power plants in Clark County are among the worst 500 nationwide for air pollution, environmentalists said Thursday.

According to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, plants became "dramatically dirtier" from 1995 through 2000. The report said statewide power plants' emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and smog-creating nitrogen oxides increased over those five years.

Industry advocates said the report ignored evidence that the skies over the United States actually are cleaner today than a decade ago.

The report was released as the Bush administration considers changes to the Clean Air Act that environmentalists fear would weaken pollution protections. The environmental groups also hope to generate support for bills in the House and Senate that would impose stricter pollution standards on power plants.

One of the targeted legislators is Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"We're calling on Sen. Reid to co-sponsor the Clean Power Act and to oppose (Bush) administration-backed rollbacks of the Clean Air Act," said Ben Prochazka, PIRG's western states field organizer.

He added that Reid has been a good supporter of renewable energy, one of the environmentalists' favorite answers to fossil-fuel based power plants.

Two power plants in Clark County -- the Mohave Generating Station and the Reid Gardner Station -- were specifically named as dirty plants in the report. The Mohave plant, near Laughlin, has been tied to haze problems in the Grand Canyon.

The Mohave and the Reid Gardner plant, in the Moapa Valley, are the largest carbon dioxide releasers in the state, Prochazka said.

The North Valmy Power Plant in Humboldt County also is a major offender, the PIRG report said, with increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions.

Prochazka noted that about a dozen new gas-fired power plants are slated for Clark County. But new power plants are generally much cleaner than older plants, he said.

"The bad news is that the oldest and dirtiest power plants are allowed to continue to pollute at levels comparable to the 1970s," he said.

Nevada Power, now buffeted by the partial denial of its $900 million rate increase request, owns 25 percent of the Mohave plant and all of Reid Gardner.

"Nevada Power is committed to maintaining plant operations that are compliant with federal, state and local regulatory requirements," said Sonya Headen, company spokeswoman. "We work closely with all regulatory agencies."

Nevada Power's parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources, also owns the North Valmy plant.

Clark County Air Quality Management officials say the Mohave and Reid Gardner plants do not appear to contribute significantly to air pollution problems in the Las Vegas area.

Mike Sword, Air Quality Management acting assistant director, said power plants overall probably contribute 10 percent or less of the pollution to the region, with the sole exception of sulfur dioxide, which mostly comes from the Reid Gardner and Mohave coal-fired plants.

Sword said his agency is vigorously monitoring applications for new plants that have come in over the last two years.

Prochazka said controlling emissions from a single power plant can equal many cars.

"It's all of these things combined that create the larger problem," he said. "It's easier to control emissions from a single source than it is from a million automobiles."

The PIRG report said increased emissions from power plants nationally have been hidden through pollution-credit trading and caps on overall pollution levels.

But power plant advocates said the report ignored evidence that pollution has decreased nationwide and that while some plants may have seen increased emissions of some pollutants, overall emissions are down.

"The nation's air quality is steadily improving and power plant emissions continue to decrease, facts that this report goes to great lengths to hide," said Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, a trade association representing utility companies.

Gannett News Service contributed to this story.