Mohave Not in Edison?s Long-Term Plans

Despite cheap fuel available for Southern California Edison?s Mohave coal-fired plant, the utility?s zest for renewables and reluctance to invest in emissions controls appear to be overwhelming bids by Navajo and Hopi tribal governments to prolong the life of the 1,580 MW facility. After four weeks of evidentiary hearings that wrapped up at the California Public Utilities Commission July 9, Edison?s perseverance on Mohave may be ending, while one environmental group?s embrace of ?clean coal? is a striking twist in the case. The official word from Edison is that it hasn?t given up on the Nevada-based facility. However, Edison?noting uncertainties about Mohave operations after 2005?didn?t factor generation from the plant into its long-term procurement plans filed July 9 with regulators ( Circuit , July 16, 2004). Edison, Mohave?s majority owner, maintains that investing $1.2 billion in pollution controls required to keep the plant running is risky at best because coal and water leases expire in 2005, and long-term water supplies are doubtful. ?It?s clear to us that Edison is not counting on the power plant coming back,? said Don Schultz, senior analyst for the Office of Ratepayer Advocates. During hearings, Edison indicated that competitively priced renewables acquisitions can replace Mohave?s output. Given these signals from the utility and other potential alternatives to the coal-fired plant, ORA doubts the facility is needed, said Schultz. The Utility Reform Network is pushing for access to Edison?s confidential filing, which details the utility?s short-listed bidders for its most recent renewables solicitation. According to TURN, review of this information is crucial to an assessment of alternatives to Mohave. TURN wants Edison to release the confidential data only to the Procurement Review Group, a body composed of nonmarket participants sworn to secrecy. As for other alternatives to Mohave, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is calling for equal proportions of clean coal, renewables, and energy efficiency as replacements for Mohave output. Many environmental groups have shunned coal because of its link with greenhouse gas and mercury emissions. But the NRDC proposes conversion of coal to gas in an integrated gasification combined-cycle facility, then CO2 capture and storage. The group proposes that coal gasification elsewhere should supplant some of Mohave?s current output. Coal gasification would reduce, but not eliminate, mercury emissions from coal. Mercury is a contaminant that often enters the food chain through fish and is known to be toxic to the human nervous system. Coal-fired power plants produce roughly 40 percent of the nation?s mercury pollution annually. Still, Jim Boyd, California Energy Commission member, said the NRDC is ?enlightened? because it recognizes that ?coal is the dominant fuel in the U.S. for electricity, and it?s going to be used.? Capture and storage of CO2, otherwise known as sequestering, is ?not a pipe dream,? said Boyd. He said the technology is used by several facilities outside California to capture and recycle CO2 and then, among other things, to inject the greenhouse gas into the ground to help retrieve oil supplies. The CEC is looking at this approach for California, Boyd added. ?My own notion is that the carbon dioxide aspect of global warming is junk science,? said Charles Cichetti, an economist representing the Navajo government in hearings. Cichetti was responding to a question by TURN on whether CO2 emissions should face taxes or regulation. The costly pollution controls required to keep the plant running would reduce Mohave?s sulfur dioxide emissions, but not CO2 emissions. Also in play is Water and Energy Consulting?s proposal for 1,000 MW of solar thermal peaking electricity, 500 MW on Hopi land and 500 MW on Navajo land. The 18,000 solar dishes would be constructed by Stirling Energy Systems. Meanwhile, with water and coal leases expiring next year, Hopi and Navajo tribal governments are facing the loss of $4.3 million in water royalties from Peabody Western Coal, as well as the loss of mining jobs, causing already high unemployment levels to spike further. The governments and Peabody Coal argue that Edison should be granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the billion-dollar-plus pollution-control investment while they nail down alternative water and coal supplies. The NRDC and Water and Energy Consulting say their proposals would provide construction, maintenance, and operations jobs for Hopi and Navajo tribal members. Even with retrofitting, the groups point out, jobs would be lost when Mohave shuts down for the upgrade. ?We as Hopi people need to get over this business of threatening these people [with the loss of jobs on the reservation]. There is a way those jobs can be preserved,? said Vernon Masayesva, representing the grassroots group Black Mesa Trust, which is fighting against use of Hopi water for coal slurry. ?We are not that helpless. Give us a chance to work this problem out. That is all we are asking for?not gloom and doom.?

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Mohave Not in Edison?s Long-Term Plans

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