Hearing on coal power plant on Nevada state line draws hundreds

LAS VEGAS " Protesters and proponents from two states filled a city hall auditorium in the Nevada border city of Mesquite to air concerns about a company's proposal to build a coal-fired power plant nearby, an official said Friday.

"There were strong feelings on both sides, but people were generally well-behaved and listened," said Dante Pistone, a Nevada Division of Environmental Protection official who estimated the crowd at the Thursday meeting at more than 200.

"We'll take all their comments and take them into consideration," he said.

The state is considering whether to issue an air quality permit for Sithe Global Power, a subsidiary of private equity giant Blackstone Group of New York, to build the 750-megawatt, coal-fired Toquop Energy Project.

The company, which plans to burn coal from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, also needs environmental approval from the Bureau of Land Management. It hopes to begin construction by March 2009 and power generation by 2013, project spokesman Frank Maisano said.

Pistone said the state's decision whether to approve, deny, or require changes in the plan could be made within six months.

But a technical evaluation by division scientists and engineers found that the plant would meet current federal and state air quality standards for emissions including carbon dioxide, he said.

Carbon dioxide is a leading greenhouse gas, and is considered a contributor to global warming.

"The word 'current' is important, because there are currently no standards governing carbon dioxide emissions," Pistone said. "If and when carbon dioxide regulations are approved by the federal government and the state, they would have to comply. They can't be grandfathered in."

Assemblyman Joe Hardy, a Republican doctor who represents the area, Clark County commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Tom Collins, and Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck were applauded when they took turns criticizing the project.

John Paul, president of the Virgin Valley Water District, said he feared the power plant would pollute the area's water supply.

Ronda Hornbeck, Lincoln County Commission chairwoman, spoke in favor of the project, which officials say would employ about 800 people during construction and 110 when it starts operations.

Hornbeck said the plant would contribute $10 million taxes that the financially strapped county could use for schools, roads and other public programs.

Lincoln County was on the brink of insolvency four years ago, when it ended the year with a zero balance in the bank and was forced to lay off one-fourth of its employees.

One group of opponents came by bus from the St. George, Utah, area.

St. George resident Craig Booth complained that while Arizona and Las Vegas would benefit from the electricity produced by the plant, Lincoln County would get tax dollars and Sithe stood to make a profit, "St. George and Mesquite get the pollution."