Intermountain Power Plant (Back to Air Quality and Energy Program Index)
The Intermountain Power Plant (IPP) is located in western Utah near Delta. It consists of two 875-megawatt units that were recently upgraded to produce 950 megawatts (gross) each. The City of Los Angeles takes roughly 45 percent of the power that the plant produces. In 2003, IPP produced 3,400 tons of sulfur dioxide, 27,000 tons of nitrogen oxide, and 15 million tons of carbon dioxide. In 2002, the owners of IPP announced their intention to expand the plant by adding a third 900-megawatt unit and Los Angeles was actively involved in the expansion. Then in August 2005, Mayor Hahn pulled the city of the negotiations and reallocated the money that would have gone towards the expansion to developing renewable energy sources for the city. The Utah Division of Air Quality issued a final permit for the expansion in October 2004. The Trust and Sierra Club have appealed the permit.
Nevco
Nevco Energy Company is proposing to build a 270-megawatt power plant near Sigurd, Utah, which is in the Sevier River valley in the central part of the state. Many local residents oppose the construction of the plant and have formed a group called the Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water. The Utah Division of Air Quality issued a draft permit in March 2004, and the Trust and other organizations filed extensive comments. A final permit was issued in October 2004, which has been appealed by the Trust and Sierra Club.
Mustang
Peabody Energy announced in 2001 that it intended to build a 300-megawatt power plant near Grants, New Mexico. The New Mexico Environment Department determined that the permit was complete in 2002, but the Department also determined that Peabody had not done a thorough job of analyzing the various options for minimizing pollution from the facility, pointing to the lack of a comprehensive assessment of IGCC (gasifying the coal and burning the syngas in a turbine). Peabody submitted a new analysis in 2003, but as of late 2004, final permit had not been issued.
Steag
In April 2003, the Steag Power Company, a unit of the German-based RAG, announced that it was planning to build a 1,500-megawatt power plant (named the “Desert Rock Energy Facility”) near Farmington, New Mexico in the northwestern corner of the state. The plant would be located within a few miles of the Four Corners and San Juan power plants, two of the largest sources of air pollution in the Southwest. The Navajo Nation will be a partner in the plant if it is built. Because the plant is built on the Navajo Reservation, EPA Region 9 is the permitting authority. Steag submitted a permit application in 2004, but a final permit has not been issued.
Chaco Valley Energy
BHP Billiton, which operates the Navajo Mine that provides coal for the Four Corners power plant, has plans to build a 550-megawatt coal if the Steag proposal does not become a reality. The plant, called the Cottonwood Energy Center, would be built in essentially the same place as the Steag plant. A permit application was submitted to EPA Region 9 in March 2004.
Springerville
The Springerville Generating Station is located in eastern Arizona, near the town of Springerville in the headwaters of the Little Colorado River. The owner of Springerville announced in 2001 that it intended to add two new 400-megawatt units at the plant. The Trust has been deeply involved in both the proposed expansion and trying to ensure that the existing units are as clean as possible (For more information, see the Springerville Power Plant page)
Non-GCT Links
Western Clean Energy Campaign
Environmental Defense
Clean Air Task Force
Western Resource Advocates
San Juan Citizen’s Alliance
Sierra Club
Energy Foundation
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