Utility seeking support for keeping Mohave generating plant open

Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

LAUGHLIN, Nev. - An aging coal-burning electric plant near the Colorado River is too important to Southern California's power supply to be shut down Dec. 31, the generating station operator told regulators.

Southern California Edison asked the California Public Utilities Commission to support keeping the 35-year-old Mohave Generating Station open while it installs pollution-control equipment required under a 1999 federal court agreement.

"The recent sharp run-up in natural-gas prices ... has underscored the high importance and value of Mohave," the company said in written testimony filed Sept. 26 with the California PUC. The commission did not make an immediate decision.

Edison said California state officials were concerned about the effect of shutting down a reliable supply of power, and cited "improved prospects" for an agreement allowing the station to remain open while required pollution controls are installed. Company officials have estimated the cost of upgrades at $1.1 billion.

The 1999 court order in a lawsuit by three environmental groups requires the Laughlin plant to shut down at least temporarily if the equipment isn't installed by the end of this year.

The plaintiffs - the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust and National Parks Conservation Association - have said they won't agree to a deadline extension.

They say the plant, which is about 100 miles south of Las Vegas, emits high amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and mercury, and say it contributes to haze in the Grand Canyon, about 75 miles to the northeast.

Las Vegas-based Nevada Power Co. is a 14 percent owner of the Mohave plant, which burns relatively inexpensive coal and has a 1,580 megawatt generating capacity. One megawatt is enough to serve 700 homes a year, a Nevada Power spokeswoman said.

It cost about 1.5 cents to generate a kilowatt hour of electricity at Mohave in August, compared with 8 cents for a kilowatt hour from an efficient gas-fired power plant, documents filed with federal regulators show.

Edison owns 56 percent of the Mohave plant. Other partial owners include the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Salt River Project, a municipal power agency serving the Phoenix area.

The plant employs 340 people. It provides royalties to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe for coal mined in Kayenta, Ariz. The coal is mixed with water and transported to the plant in a 273-mile slurry pipeline.

Southern California Edison has said it wanted a binding agreement for a continued supply of water and coal before agreeing to the expensive upgrades.

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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com