Attorney: Water available to build power plant

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 | 8:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Studies spanning 30 months show there is enough underground water available to supply a proposed $650 million power plant in Lincoln County without harming neighboring towns in Clark County, an attorney said Tuesday.

Karen Peterson, a lawyer representing Lincoln County and its private partner Vidler Water Co. Inc., said the county should be able to use its natural resources to spur economic activity, arguing that goal is in the public interest.

But George Benesch, an attorney representing the nearby Virgin Valley Water District, said the pumping of 7,000 acre-feet a year from the Tule Desert Groundwater Basin will mean a "substantial depletion of the groundwater and lower the water table."

That water flows into the Virgin Valley Water District to serve residents of Mesquite and Bunkerville. "I know things are tough in Lincoln County but we're not willing to compromise water for the Mesquite area," Benesch said.

Peterson and Benesch gave their opening statements as the state Engineer's Office started three days of hearings on Lincoln County and Vidler's application to develop 7,000 acre-feet to sell to a proposed water-cooled power plant to be built by Cogentrix Energy Co. of North Carolina.

Cogentrix has entered into a contract to pay more than $23 million to lease the water over the next 42 years, after which the water rights would revert to Lincoln County.

Vidler, the largest private landholder in Nevada, would pay to develop the water. Lincoln and Vidler would split the profits 50-50.

Peterson said one production and five test wells were drilled during the study period. The wells showed that enough unappropriated water exists to supply the power plant.

The underground water system would be "moderately stressed" in the non-populated area, she said, and the pumping would not conflict with existing water rights.

Peterson said State Engineer Hugh Ricci, who will make the final decision, must defer to Lincoln County in the development of its own natural resources.

Granting the Lincoln-Vidler application, Peterson said, would mean more information would be made available about the deep carbonate rock aquifer system that may contain millions of gallons of unused water.

Benesch suggested the conclusions of the Lincoln-Vidler studies were "based on speculation." The applications were not clear, he said. They seek to draw either 7,000 acre-feet or 14,000 acre-feet.

The water basin, he said, has a perennial yield of 1,000 acre-feet and yet the Lincoln-Vidler plan is to use 7,000 acre-feet. Benesch said Lincoln and Vidler "want the state engineer to throw caution to the wind."

Pumping this water would "intercept" the water flowing into the Virgin Valley Water District that serves Mesquite and Bunkerville, both in Clark County.

And the test wells used in the study, Benesch said, are of "questionable reliability."

A decision by Ricci probably will be made late in the year.