County approves new power plant near Goodsprings

Thursday, May 22, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

The Clark County Commission on Wednesday overruled the recommendations of county staff and approved a 500-megawatt power plant to be built near Goodsprings.

County planning staff had recommended denial because the land-use guide for the area calls for "open space, grazing and residential." But Diamond Generating, the company building the air-cooled, natural-gas powered plant, was able to quell the county's biggest concern.

The company has agreed to restrict its generating if it produces so much air pollution that the federal government would have to stop development of the planned Ivanpah Valley airport a few miles away. The air pollution issue has held up approval of the project by the county commission for over a year.

"The airport and the facility can co-exist," said Christine Robinson, Clark County Air Quality Management director.

County planners said they still could not support the plant because of the land-use issues, but commissioners voted 5-0 to approve the $380 million construction project.

While some residents of Goodsprings have opposed the project in the past, no opponents attended the Wednesday meeting.

Bill Davis, a Diamond Generating director, said construction could begin in June 2004 and the plant could start feeding electricity onto the grid two years later.

Former Nevada Gov. and Sen. Richard Bryan argued for the project before commissioners. He said that the blackout suffered by some Nevada Power Co. customers in Las Vegas two years ago could happen again as demand for electricity grows.

The company hopes to market as much of the electricity as possible to Southern Nevada customers, Bryan said. The plant could provide enough power for perhaps 250,000 homes during hot summer months in Southern Nevada.