Edison Says It?s Not Giving Up on Mohave

Southern California Edison insists it hasn?t thrown in the towel on the coal-fired Mohave power plant, even as the facility is plagued by the need to replace cooling water and coal fuel, as well as the requirement for a $1.1 billion investment in pollution-control equipment. Edison?s position in its August 9 brief filed with the California Public Utilities Commission?one that calls for keeping the 1,580 MW plant running?is at odds with Mohave?s conspicuous omission in the utility?s plans for long-term procurement. Edison believes there is ?potential value in extending the life of Mohave,? according to spokesperson Gloria Quinn. The plant?s exclusion from Edison?s long-term scenario submitted to regulators hinges on uncertainties about costs of the facility, according to Quinn. ?So future plans [do] not assume that the plant will be available,? she added. A temporary shutdown is likely, maintains Edison, because coal and water leases run out at the end of 2005. Edison and its co-owners are also required to invest a large amount in emissions controls. Edison owns 56 percent of the Laughlin, Nevada?based facility. The Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District owns 20 percent, Nevada Power Company owns 14 percent, and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power owns 10 percent. Before Edison ponies up its share for pollution controls, it proposes to look for other water supply sources and resolve basic coal supply problems. The utility hasn?t pursued alternative water sources more aggressively in the more than two years that the case has been before the CPUC because, Quinn said, they didn?t pan out. Among the alternative water sources considered are Lake Powell, which straddles Arizona and Utah, and Jackass Canyon in Arizona, she said. ?This is not a public relations effort,? emphasized Quinn, rejecting the notion that Edison is loath to despair of a facility that serves a region starved for generation. ?A senior management team in July spent six days with the [Navajo and Hopi] tribes who want to keep Mohave open trying to resolve these issues. We are making a good-faith effort.?

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Edison Says It?s Not Giving Up on Mohave

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