Las Vegas NowPlans for 2 Power Plants on Hold in Nevada

Plans for 2 Power Plants on Hold in Nevada

A privately owned company has at least temporarily pulled the plug on plans to build a coal-fired power plant in White Pine County, less than a month after the state's largest utility did the same with its plans for a similar one near Ely.

White Pine Energy Associates LLC, an affiliate of LS Power based in East Brunswick, N.J., notified state regulators in a letter Thursday it was withdrawing its application to build the White Pine Energy Station.

Citing current economic conditions and "increasing regulatory uncertainties," LS Power officials said they will focus instead on completing a planned 500-mile transmission line project that will provide new access to renewable energy resources across Nevada.

"As demand for renewable energy increases we are focusing more and more of our internal resources on providing transmission solutions for both renewable project developers and load serving entities," said Paul Thessen, president of LS Power. He said they are focussed on breaking ground on the transmission project this year.

White Pine Energy Associates and another LS Power affiliate, Great Basin Transmission LLC, had planned to build a 1,600-megawatt coal-fired electrical generating plant, substations and other facilities along with the transmission lines.

But the company said in the letter to the Nevada Public Utilities Commission it "does not intend to refile its application for a Utility Environmental Protection Act ("UEPA") permit with the Commission until such time as it has obtained its Class I air permit from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection."

Environmentalists and some politicians, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have opposed the coal plants for fear they would increase air pollution and contribute to global warming.

"LS Power's decision to back away from the WPES is a positive development for growing Nevada's green jobs economy," Scot Rutledge of the Nevada Conservation League said Thursday.

"The potential for job creation in energy efficiency and renewable technologies is huge in this state and we look forward to taking that next step towards getting Nevada's business sector humming again."

The commission had been scheduled to receive recommendations on whether to grant a permit for the White Pine Energy Station during technical hearings on the application beginning March 10 and at a March 8 consumer session in Ely. But those hearings have been canceled, the commission said in a statement Thursday.

Last month, NV Energy postponed plans for a 1,500-megawatt plant, citing increasing environmental and economic uncertainties.

The utility also is going forward with its plans to build new transmission lines but company president Michael Yackira said the $5 billion coal-fired Ely Energy Center could be delayed for up to a decade or until technologies are developed to burn coal with fewer emissions or store carbon byproducts.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)