Mohave’s Shutdown Sealed

Southern California Edison's Mohave coal plant's fuel supplier, Peabody Coal, is expected to ramp down mine operations and workforce levels around October, according to the utility. The plant's access to water for cooling and slurrying remains in question. That, in addition to three environmental groups' continued opposition to extending a court-ordered deadline to either install pollution-control equipment or shut the plant by the end of 2005, appears to seal the 1,582 MW plant's fate. "The plant will likely be closed for the next three and a half years while we implement pollution control, build a new aquifer, and complete other work," said Edison spokesperson Gloria Quinn. She said that a series of studies is under way on fuel and water supply issues. But, she added, the first of them, the environmental impact report, isn't likely to be complete until mid- to late-2006. Utility executives and environmental groups likewise say it is unlikely the plant will stay open beyond this year, because it would be impossible at this point to install the more than $1 billion worth of needed pollution-control equipment by then. Under a 1999 court order, the plant's owners agreed to either install pollution-control equipment by the end of this year or close the plant. The Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe announced their opposition to the continued use of their aquifer after December 31. To date, the Sierra Club and two other environmental groups refuse to consider a possible extension of the court-ordered deadline, citing the fact that the plant's owners have already had six years to work on such issues. Peabody expects to start ramping down this fall because there's a roughly 30-day supply of coal stored at the Mohave site, as well as coal in various stages of the production process at the Black Mesa Mine, and because such supplies should last until the plant shuts down. The plant, which went into operation in 1971, is located along the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It's 56 percent owned by Edison and is powered by coal brought in from the Black Mesa Mine in northeastern Arizona. Nevada Power owns a 14 percent stake, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power a 10 percent stake, and the Salt River Project in Arizona a 20 percent share. Currently, coal from the mine is crushed and mixed with water from the adjacent Navajo Aquifer and transported 273 miles across Arizona in a pipeline to the plant in Laughlin. Problems with a 273-mile slurry pipeline system may spell doom for the plant, at least for the next few years. This method is used because coal shipments to the plant by rail or truck aren't feasible due to the limited infrastructure near the mine and power plant. Both the Navajo Aquifer, or N-Aquifer, and the Black Mesa Mine are located on land owned by the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation. Peabody Western Coal leases the land at Black Mesa and pays mineral royalties that represent a significant portion of the annual revenue realized by both the Hopi and the Navajo. Leases for the water rights using the Naquifer are also Peabody's. Opposition to the facility has caused the generating station's co-owners to seek an alternative water supply to replace the use of the N-Aquifer. Over the past three years, the generating station's owners, along with the two tribes and with the assistance of the U.S. Department of the Interior, have been in search of an alternative water source. Currently, the focus is on the use of the proposed Coconino Aquifer, or C-Aquifer. The C-Aquifer wells would be located near Winslow, Arizona. Despite obstacles, over the past six months the Mohave co-owners and Peabody have continued an ongoing dialogue about a possible post-2005 coal supply agreement for Mohave.

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Mohave’s Shutdown Sealed

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