Editorial: Lack of oversight

Friday, Sept. 7, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

Plans to build three coal-fired power plants in Nevada are moving forward despite Environmental Protection Agency concerns that no one has examined the Southwest's energy needs to determine whether the plants are needed.

A story by the Las Vegas Sun on Wednesday says EPA officials have said that the Bureau of Land Management should do such an assessment to also ensure that "individual states or regions do not carry an undue burden of power generation."

Three new coal plants are proposed in Nevada - two in White Pine County near Ely and one in Lincoln County near Mesquite.

Nevada utility companies file reports with the Public Utilities Commission that estimate future needs and cite how new plants will benefit customers. But as the Sun notes, there is little or no oversight as to whether energy demands support construction of new plants. The assumption is that power companies wouldn't invest in building new plants if they weren't needed.

A representative of WestConnect, a utilities trade organization, told Sun reporter Phoebe Sweet that power companies "will build a plant if they think they can make a buck on it."

Of course, although companies may be able to profit handsomely if they build coal-fired plants, that still doesn't address whether it is the right thing to do when it comes to the environment.

In July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised to fight the proposed power plants in Nevada, saying that building the plants would be "a gigantic step away from" the goal of making Nevada a leader in renewable energy.

We agreed with that philosophy in July, and we still do. The commitment to developing renewable energy cannot be done halfway.

The EPA says its job is to determine whether plants are environmentally sound, not whether they are needed. The BLM says it can include a needs assessment in its overall review of a project, but it isn't compelled to create such an assessment.

Nonetheless, it should be someone's job in government to help determine whether more coal-fired plants are needed. We should be doing more to promote, not hinder, clean renewable energy.