A California-based company would like to build a $1 billion, 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant about nine miles southeast of Shoshone.
Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, announced its preference for the site this week after looking at others in Idaho.
According to the National Weather Service, prevailing winds in that area during the day are to the north and northeast—that is, toward the Wood River Valley. During the night, the local topography causes winds to shift to the opposite direction.
If the project is approved by Jerome County and meets state air quality standards, the earliest it could begin operating is 2011.
The company chose the site for a number of reasons, spokesman Art Larson said, including rail access, property availability, its centralized location to potential customers, proximity to an electric substation and groundwater resources.
Company officials tout the plant's creation of jobs—1,000 in construction and 125 full-timers for operation—as well as the improved efficiency and emissions of modern plants.
The plant could also provide $15 million in annual tax revenues to Jerome County, said Sempra Energy.
If the plant opens, three to four trains per week, each with 120 rail cars, would bring in low-sulfur coal from northeastern Wyoming's Powder River Basin, Larson said.
Sempra Generation would operate under a special-purpose subsidiary named Idaho Valley, which will conduct studies on air emission, noise, visual impacts, economic benefits and other public issues, according to a company news release.
But Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, already has doubts about the project's benefits.
"I sure hope we can find better jobs than that," he said. "Basically, we're using up our clean air and water to keep the lights on in Seattle."
Stennett said he has already heard from constituents, most of whom oppose the plant.
"Most people are not at all in favor of locating a project of this size in our backyard that has no benefit to Idaho electricity consumers," he said.
Sempra's proposed plant could inject tax revenue into Jerome County's coffers, he conceded, but said that neighboring counties potentially impacted by the project would get none of that.
"It's a one billion dollar project, but the pollution goes everywhere," he said.
Greener and cleaner?
Larson said modern coal plants—such as the one his company has proposed—are 85 percent cleaner than those built 20 years ago.
But that doesn't impress Bill Eddie, senior staff attorney with Advocates for the West, a public-interest law firm in Boise that represents conservation groups.
"It's easy to throw figures like that out because a lot of coal-fired plants are dinosaurs," he said. "They're filthy dirty."
The Idaho Conservation League also has expressed concerns about potential health effects of the plant. Lauren McLean, ICL community conservation associate, said the organization has not had a chance to study Sempra's proposed technology, but doubts that a plant of the size proposed can operate without generating harmful levels of pollution.
"Clean coal is a misnomer," McLean said. "Burning coal always pumps pollution into the air."
But coal-fired energy production proponents point out that it lessens states' reliance on natural gas prices, while at the same time reducing the nation's reliance on foreign oil, Larson said.
"We have a larger resource base of coal than OPEC has of oil," he added.
However, as an alternative to coal-fired plants, the ICL and other groups have supported the production of power through coal gasification, a process that creates synthetic natural gas from coal.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, current technology can clean as much as 99 percent of the polluting impurities from the burned gas.
An additional advantage of gas-produced power is that it allows capture of most of the carbon that would otherwise be released into the air. Carbon dioxide is a major component of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Eddie said a coal gasification power plant costs about 20 percent more than a standard coal-fired plant. However, he said, likely future regulation of carbon emissions could cause coal plants to cost more to operate in the long run.
Sempra also has proposed construction of a 1,450-megawatt coal-fired plant in northwest Nevada. That would be more than twice the size of the Idaho plant. On April 20, an alliance of 18 environmental and community groups formed the Nevada Clean Energy Coalition to block its construction.
Stennett sought state siting law
In the last session of the Idaho Legislature, Stennett introduced a bill addressing the siting process. Stennett's concerns are prompted by the fact that such a small number of people—P&Z commissioners, or county commissioners upon appeal—can make a decision impacting huge numbers of people.
"The only hurdle (Sempra) has to pass, besides the regulatory hurdles, for location is to get two county commissioners (out of three) to approve the site," Stennett said. "Jerome County will make a decision that will impact everyone in Idaho, or certainly everyone in Southern Idaho."
The bill, however, didn't strike a chord with his fellow lawmakers.
"We were unable to get it printed," he said. "We couldn't garner enough support."
The bill would have formed a statewide committee, including members of Idaho Fish and Game, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Public Utilities Commission and Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
"A broader range of officials would have a say," Stennett said. "Pollution doesn't stop at the county line."
Stennett's bill, or something like it, will be on the interim energy committee's agenda this summer, he said.
"It's possible if we pass this, if we get some agreement on a bill and get it through the Legislature in early January, it could have an impact. That's the goal," he said. But, "It may be too late."
Sempra and Stennett agree on one thing so far: The public needs to get involved.
If they're given a special-use permit for the plant, Sempra will be holding open houses later in the year.
"We want to be a good neighbor," Larson said. "We're going to employ the best available environmental technologies."
But the best of something bad is not good enough, detractors say.
"If you're someone in Blaine County and you go to (Jerome County) to talk about it, they're not going to pay much attention," Stennett said. But all Idaho residents can write to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne or contact Jerome County officials to express their opinions of the plan.
"People need to get up in arms and raise a ruckus to turn this back," Stennett said.
Sempra Generation had not applied to the Jerome County Planning & Zoning Commission for the special-use permit needed for the plant, said Art Brown, Jerome County Planning & Zoning administrator.
If they request it be considered as an agenda item, the earliest meeting that the P&Z could discuss it is May 23, Brown said.
