Protest of water use for natural gas plant prevails

Friday, April 16, 2004 | 9:52 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has dissuaded the Lincoln County Water District and its business partner from using some of their water rights to operate a proposed power plant 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The Lincoln County Water District and its partner, Vidler Water Co., have been seeking to build a $650 million natural gas generating plant, using as much as 7,000 acre-feet of water to cool the facility.

But when Lincoln and Vidler in September requested permission from the state engineer to use 580 acre-feet of their water rights -- which would be enough water for 2,900 people -- to help run the power plant in Lincoln's Tule Desert, the Southern Nevada Water Authority filed a protest. The water authority objected based on its position that power plants in the desert should use air-cooled technology, particularly during drought conditions that have made water scarce.

On Thursday the water authority board unanimously approved an agreement with Lincoln and Vidler so that the water rights in question won't be used for the proposed power plant.

"The authority has a policy that we don't think water-cooled power is an efficient use of water in this area but we think air-cooled power is doable in the desert," Kay Brothers, the authority's deputy general manager of engineering and operations, said. "I don't know that I would call this a big victory."

The agreement doesn't mean the power plant won't be built. It's also possible that Lincoln County could find other water sources if it wished to pursue a water-cooled plant.

But Brothers said that if the authority has the legal means to do so, it would attempt to block any other effort by Lincoln's water district and Vidler to use water for plant-cooling purposes.

"We'll protest like we did before," Brothers said.

Lincoln County Commissioner Tim Perkins, who is also chairman of the Lincoln County Water District, said his county and Vidler are still seeking a construction partner to help finance and build the facility.

"There's still a way we could use water but we're going to look at all of our possibilities," Perkins said. "Whether or not we use water will depend on the company that wants to build the plant. If it is more feasible to use a dry-cooled plant, that is what we will look to do."

Perkins said Lincoln and Vidler agreed to withdraw their requested use of the 580 acre-feet of water in question because they decided the water could be used instead for residential and commercial development.

Vidler attorney Steve Hartman said his company had no problem cooperating with the water authority because it has designated the water rights in question to other purposes. Like Perkins, he said other water may become available to cool the plant, an option he said could be pursued even if Lincoln and Vidler run the risk of more opposition from the water authority.

"They're exercising their rights and we'll be doing the same," Hartman said. "We'll do what we can to get the project on line for Lincoln County."

Few power plants have been built in the West in recent years because many of the nation's largest energy companies have struggled financially. But Hartman said Vidler is negotiating with two power-generating companies he wouldn't name to build the plant in Lincoln County.

Vidler has already received permission to build the 1,100-megawatt plant on land owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management. The power plant is being viewed as a way to help lift Lincoln County out of its prolonged economic slump. The county is so poor that it no longer can afford to have a county manager on staff, officials said.

But the original proposal to use water to cool the power plant has drawn sharp objections from environmental groups as well as from the water authority. Environmentalists also have raised objections about the relationship between BLM and Vidler -- the largest private landowner in the state along with sister corporation Nevada Land and Resource Co.

Two Vidler employees once worked out of BLM's Carson City office, a relationship that ended after critics, led by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., raised objections.