Coal Fire Plant near Gerlach

[theCryptofishist]

The other shoe dropped on this one (finally) and it's not Sempra's baby apparently.

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and To Initiate the Public Scoping Process for a Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant


[Federal Register: April 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 77)]
[Notices]
[Page 20930-20931]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22ap05-88]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[NV-020-5101-ER-F347; N-78567, N-78568, N-78989]

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and To
Initiate the Public Scoping Process for a Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, notice is hereby given that the Winnemucca Field Office (WFO) of
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is initiating the preparation of an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed coal-fired power plant.

DATES: The public scoping comment period will commence with the
publication of this Notice, and will end on June 21, 2005. Public
meetings will be announced through the local news media, and a BLM Web
site at least 15 days prior to the event. Comments should be received
on or before the end of the scoping period at the address listed below.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the Winnemucca Field
Office, Bureau of Land Management, 5100 East Winnemucca Boulevard,
Winnemucca, Nevada 89445, via fax at (775) 623-1503 or online at:
http://www.nv.blm.gov/winnemucca. Comments, including names
and addresses of respondents will be available for public review at the
BLM WFO, during regular hours 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, except
holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you
wish to withhold your name or street address from public review or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests
will be honored to the extent of the law. All submissions from
organizations and businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list, contact Fred Holzel, Planning and
Environmental Coordinator, Telephone (775) 623-1500.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EIS will analyze a 1,450 megawatt coal-
fired power plant, which is proposed by Granite-Fox Power LLC (GFP), to
be located in rural northwest Nevada near the town of Gerlach, in
Washoe County. Features in the area include the Smoke Creek Desert, the
Black Rock-Desert High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National
Conservation Area and associated wilderness areas, and five (5)

[[Page 20931]]

wilderness study areas. U.S. Gypsum, a gypsum mine and wallboard
facility, and the adjacent town of Empire, are located southeast of the
proposed project. GFP's proposed project consists of the power plant to
be located on private lands, with their ancillary facilities to be
constructed on both private and public lands. Proposed power plant
ancillary facilities include: Water supply, transport, and discharge
facilities; waste disposal facilities; electric transmission lines;
rail lines; and a temporary construction worker residence area. Three
proposed rights-of-way would involve approximately 260 acres of public
land. The Federal action comprises potential issuance of these public
rights-of-way, which are necessary for the construction and operation
of the power plant.
Although the proposed power plant would be located on private land,
it could not operate without Federal actions for rights-of-way on
public lands. The EIS will address potential impacts of the proposal on
private and public lands. The proposed rights-of-way on public lands
include approximately 7 miles of railroad spur, approximately 2 miles
of 500 kilovolt transmission line, and approximately 26 miles of water
supply pipelines. It also includes approximately 1 mile of ground
electrode lines. A range of alternatives would be developed with input
from the scoping process.

Dated: January 31, 2005.
Vicki L. Wood,
Acting Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 05-5454 Filed 4-21-05; 8:45 am]

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/ ... /i5454.htm

You have a right to comment under NEPA. Adn a right to attend meetings. We've discussed this before, some people pro and some con. I post this so that you can participate in this process if you chose.

[metric]

NEVADACLEANENERGY.ORG

[runhardretard]

Also see:

http://www.nevadacleanenergy.org/takeaction.html

[theCryptofishist]

Coal Plant Article from the Chronicle

The plant would be located about 8 miles from the site of the annual Burning Man festival, whose participants pride themselves in the small environmental impact that such a big event leaves. Participants would likely be able to see the proposed plant's smoke stack and plume, if the project happens.

[joel the ornery]

Power Plants (broadcast May 31, 2005)
Copyright 2005 William S. Hammack Enterprises


In this energy conscious time of ours there is one single thing we could do to conserve billions of barrels of oil: Move our power plants closer to us!

Since the early 20th century we've build them farther and farther away from cities and towns. We learned with the first ones in the late 19th century that no one liked having a smoke-spewing plant next door.

So, by 1910 or so power companies built them far from city centers. At first moving them made for economies of scale because one plant could serve several cites. Yet we paid a penalty: A decrease in efficiency.

By efficiency I mean the fraction of energy that enters compared to the amount of electricity created. You see, a power plant burns oil to produce electricity. Each gallon of oil entering has a maximum amount of energy, but we don't convert all of that to useful electricity. Some it goes into running the equipment in the plant, some we lose as heat. Also transmitting the electricity long distances over power lines involves energy loss as heat, typically about 10 to 15 percent.

With all that in mind, here's an astonishing fact: Our peak energy efficiency occurred in 1910. Yes, that's right 1910. We converted about 65% of the input energy into useable electricity. My moving power plants further away we dropped by 1960 to an efficiency of about 30 percent. Partly this occurred because of lost energy in long transmission lines, but also because the heat from the plant could not be recycled and used in nearby buildings, instead they simply vented it.

With today's technology we can convert more than 50% of the energy from burning fuel into electricity, while at the same time giving off fewer pollutants. New technologies also create quieter plants, ones that would be good neighbors. In addition we could recycle waste heat to nearby office buildings and homes, and with nearby plants we would lose less energy to transmission.

All combined we could achieve between 65 and 95 plus percent efficiency. Creating an infrastructure of these smaller, delocalized plants would mean a savings, over three decades, of $5 trillion in capital investment, and would consume 122 billion fewer barrels of oil. All this means, of course, less carbon dioxide emission, less pollution, and cheaper energy.

[cowboyangel]

everytime I drive around the greater Bay Area, I notice more and more homes and industrial plants with photovoltaic panels on their roofs.....

[theCryptofishist]

http://ndep.nv.gov/admin/coal05.htm

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection page on coal fired plants. I could not load the map.
My guess is that the "non attainment area" is Reno/Sparks, not the entire county, so it may not be a factor in the power plants construction.

[unjonharley]

Just yesterday the U of O came out with a way to use wave/swell power.

[Elemental666]

Norway produces something like 80% of its power using hydro station along its coast. Power is also its top export. Funny huh...

*my numbers may be off, been a while since I looked at 'em*

Seems to me they should be looking for something more renewable to generate power with... The sun, the wind, flowing water...these things are free for the taking... When oh when will those who make the decisions start thinking their decisions through...

[theCryptofishist]

Absolutely, we could be doing amazing savings with passive solar, for instance, and some of those techniques are 100s and 1000s of years old.

[robotland]

When oh when will those who make the decisions start thinking their decisions through...

We need to kick the Oil Barons out of office and install Solar Barons!

[joel the ornery]

tsk, tsk, tsk.

[Lassen Forge]

We had an excellent opportunity right here in the bay area to build a photovoltaic array on what was considered to be one of the 7 best "brightfields" (optimum areas for solar generation) in the country - the old Leona gravel quarry where 580 and 13 merge, in Oakland. Instead, the developers who wanted to buy the quarry and build housing on it (more inna sec on this) lobbied and cajoled the city, came up with their own "studies" favoring their view, and, well, they're building the subdevelopment as I type this (and have for a bit over a year).

Now... they're gonna dump a ton of traffic on a freeway interchange that already cannot handle the current traffic volume (anyone traveling north on 580 during rush hour toward SF, or the other way in the evenings, has seen their commute times double in the past 3 years), they're going to put a huge burden on the connection to places like the Airport, the local businesses, and the interconnect to 880 (Edwards Ave, which turns into 73rd Ave, which turns into Hegenberger - where the Oakland COlleseum is) ) that is 2 lane, narrow, and cannot (by city law and physical limitations) be widened (did I mention it has an elementary school there as well?)... there are issues sucjh as local flooding (historically a problem anyway)... and then there's the whole thing about building homes on a hillside which has been stripped and denuded for over a century - can you say slide potential?

Now... Property values *may* go up in the area, who knows... but the huge traffic and infrastructure impact alone (call a cop, see one in 3 hours) makes me wonder - do people really give a whit about the future (of their kids and grandkids) and the ability to *combat* pollution *and* provide clean, save electrical generation, damn near on-site to where it's needed, or are they more interested in lining their pockets with cash and the hell with the future? Especially when you have to burn limited resources to generatre power so the current level of society can sustain anythng close to what it has, rather than make an investment and have, essentially, a free power source? In Oakland, it seems, the answer is evident...

Just like it was when GM bought the Key system interurban railway in the 50's, scrapped the trains, built slower and less efficient busses, so people would buy cars to get there faster than the busses, and... well... You drive in it, too. Amazing how fast people are willing to sell out the generations that come after...

/rant...
BBS

[theCryptofishist]

very nice summary of the Leona quarry issue. I think that the builders should have liability for the next century or so on landslides. And Edwards is a scary road, there's that blind turn at the top of the hill that people whizz around. Cars apparently crash into that donut shop regularly and isn't that how the fire started at Mr. Greens?

[unjonharley]

A wind farm north of Sparks should be the ticket. The cost of a coal plant could put up a lot of wind towers.

[sputnik]

There is a concern with wind power that large fields of turbines would sap the energy from the wind and cause climatic change downwind of the area.

[Lassen Forge]

very nice summary of the Leona quarry issue. I think that the builders should have liability for the next century or so on landslides. And Edwards is a scary road, there's that blind turn at the top of the hill that people whizz around. Cars apparently crash into that donut shop regularly and isn't that how the fire started at Mr. Greens?

The latest was the lunch truck was flying up the hill (which is awfully steep!), lost it on that hairpin corner, took out the sigh on Sunkist, and from what I understand did a big swerve next to the school and planted itself against the rail of the store and burned. Luckily, tho, the lunch wagon took off the fireplug on the same corner, so it (kinda) contained itself. The kids sleep right above the entryway, so it could have been a *lot* worse... Fortunately, the worst part (other than the structural damage) was they *just* had the place repainted, new signs and all, which all got scorched.

There was another a few years ago, tho - same scenario, same end-point - but that time it went *into* the store and did some serious damage (and apparently killed someone in the process...) I have heard that's why they have that huge cement block as the entryway - good thing, too, as it's prolly what stopped the latest one.

Gee, Fishie... Hmmm... how *do* you know so much about my neighborhood? (We're 2 blocks from either Ed Green (used to call it H-E-G when it was Huong's Ed Green, inside joke from our San Antonio days) or the donut shop...) Enquiring minds have *got* to know....

[theCryptofishist]

The latest was the lunch truck was flying up the hill (which is awfully steep!), lost it on that hairpin corner, took out the sigh on Sunkist, and from what I understand did a big swerve next to the school and planted itself against the rail of the store and burned. Luckily, tho, the lunch wagon took off the fireplug on the same corner, so it (kinda) contained itself.

LOL, I know, not funny.

Gee, Fishie... Hmmm... how *do* you know so much about my neighborhood? (We're 2 blocks from either Ed Green (used to call it H-E-G when it was Huong's Ed Green, inside joke from our San Antonio days) or the donut shop...) Enquiring minds have *got* to know....

It's part of my preferred route to the airport. (I'm way at the other end of 13 myself, but I prefer it to 880.) My mother is part of the preservation community, which is why I know what I do about Leona Quarry (less than you gave us, but what I hadn't heard before jibed.) It's a nice part of town, at least until you get to foothill or macarther at teh bottom. I've lived in East BAy on and off for 35 years, so I do know things beyond the nieghborhood.

[Lassen Forge]

Wow! I used to live near the top of the Terrace (15000 block) - used to run the old car for 4th of July for the kids for the annual barbecue, now I do it ferrying people to the hillside to watch the neighborhood fireworks displays over the flatlands after *our* family barbecue at the new place!!

OK, not funny, but it was... esp. since no one got hurt,m and here's this "roach coach" blazing away with a fire plug base spewing water underneath the thing... (Gawd, I've been in Emg Svcs too long!! >>giggles<<)... But the effect was... well... Fire and Water co-existing.They're finally re-opened (saw it this evening!!) so that's a good thing! BTW, that place is *awesome* - if I ever hit the Lotto big, I'd pattern a gig like the BRC hardware (How about Fly Canyon Mercantile??), alomg the same line as an 1800's general store (perfect for off the grid), and have emergency provisions and the oddball thingy or 2 - to me, that would about be *the* bomb... Ahhh, to be *so* independently wealthy that I could gift something that awesome...

Sorry for the thread drift!

HUgz,
BBS

[unjonharley]

There is a concern with wind power that large fields of turbines would sap the energy from the wind and cause climatic change downwind of the area.

~
woly shit!!!batman. If we put up a wind farm the guy down the road gets less and we are going to change the world weather. That fucker down the road is going to sue me for lack of wind to knok his barn down. The insurance wont pay for his new car.

[ThePikey]

The bigger environmental concern for wind turbines seems to be the number of birds they kill. (especially if they're in a region where something-or-other is endangered or whatnot)

[joel the ornery]

marching to cliffs like lemmings.

[theCryptofishist]

I remember reading something recently that indicated that they will never again build a wind farm in a place with as many endangered raptors as Altamont pass. I've also read that if they closed down ~10% of the windmills-the real killers that are in just the place an eagle or hawk would soar, that deaths there would go way down. I wonder if they could develope ways to make the windmill sails visible to birds too.

Is the down wind thing a joke or serious. Yes, the conversion of wind into mechanical and then electrical power will slow down the wind itself. But how many windmills would it take to make a serious difference?
I do think wave power could have effects on beaches and near shore underwater environments. Which is no reason not to have it in my view, just to be careful about placement in sensitive areas. I wonder if having wave power under those cliffs with houses built on the prone to falling in the ocean would slow that effect...

[ThePikey]

My understanding is that the older-style windfarms with the small blades would spin pretty fast and kill scads of birds. Nowadays they're building ones with longer blades that spin slower. They still deliver the same amount of juice, but they're easier for birds to avoid.

At least, I *think* that was the reasoning for it.

[Lassen Forge]

Birds can't see things spinning fast - much like we can't see the spinning blades of a house fan - except their "terminal vision speed" for such things are slower. So even tho we can see those smaller, somewhat slower blades the birds still can't. Plus, they're focused on catching lunch, not avoiding these semi-invisible (to them) blade tips.

The newer, much slower (and larger) blades have made a difference, I have heard, as the birds *can* see them a little bit better, and know that's a danger zone. I've also heard they're experimenting with whistles on the blades so they have an audio clue they're in "no-bird's" land.

At least with solar, tho, you don't have those blades, and it's just as clean.

[unjonharley]

Bird speed..baaa.. The wind farm up the canyon from here move so slow the birds ride on them. So go with the coal already. The big boys want to spread the plants around. For no other reason than to by pass clean air standards. It's just to damn hard to get a class action on a lot of them. Acid rain is the same anywhere you dump it. Taking wind from others and bird safty is a bunch of bull shit. As far as clean air standards go, Bush has killed most of them.

[Will]

But how many windmills would it take to make a serious difference?

Rewind 100 years. How many cars would it take before oil fields start running out of oil? At this point, we just don't know.

[unjonharley]

Lets look at whats good for the rich.
By 1950 the oil companies had drilled under and removed oil from the naval base Terminal island Long Beach Ca. So much oil had been taken the naval base sunk and had to be built up some 6 feet. This was payed for with tax $$$s. By 1958 the water was again lapping at the top and leaking onto the base. While the oil co. just keep pumping money.
.
The tackenite mines are ten miles wide and a mile deep. No nothing can live any where near there. The tailings from the mine take up miles and miles of more land. While the mine just keep hauling out more money.
.
In 1961 I worked on building the worlds largest earth moving machine. A cool 160 cube per bite. The machine was built to work 24 hours a day for 50 years. To rip the top soil off coal veins. There are dozens of these machines working as I type. Figure how much natural habitat that amounts to. 50 years!! Can you figure out why a coal plant is need out west in Nv?
.
Now some one is worried about a garlic farm no getting his fair share of the wind. Or maybe a sage brush rancher. Or birds not seeing the blade on a wind farm. They seem to be able to miss cars doing 70.
.
Here is another David Copperfeild type slight of hand. Slip the opening of the NOrth Slope on the back of some small shit bill. Open it up and kill what ever you want in the name of oil

[theCryptofishist]

Winnemucca Field Office has issued its first quarterly newsletter on the Granite Fox EIS Project. I cannot confirm if it is posted on the website as the website is down for maintenance.

[can't sit still]

My neighbor ,Gene Walker worked for Rockwell. He was the head of engineering for the "Solar One" plant built near Dagget, Ca.
It was an expensive R&D plant that produced power 24 hrs. a day.
It used mirrors and a tower and heat storage for nightime generation. It was so efficient that it amortized it's cost in 2.5 years, BUT it didn't use oil. It was quietly dismantled after a few years.
It started with water as a circulating fluid but later changed to sodium.
It was a wonderful concept that worked flawlessly and efficiently as far as I heard.
It did fry a number of birds. This resulted in a population of rattlers living under the mirrors. They brought in pigs once a month to keep down the snake pop.
The history of the "Solar One" plant is quietly being expunged.
The OIL companies would shit a brick if someone proposed using solar in the day and hydroelectric in the night. A daytime solar plant would pay for itself in under a year on a multiple production build basis.

The only allowable alternatives to oil are ones that can't compete financially with oil.
Ca. built a greenwaste-to-elec plant in Bakersfield under a federal permit. They gathered up all the greenwaste in LA to power it. It worked great. It worked too great. The gas co. came in and told them that they would sell them gas at whatever price it would take to undercut the cost of greenwaste.. Now it runs on gas and the feds aren't giving any more permits.
Our power problems aren't electrical,,,they're elected.
Betchel and Standard and Sempra write our power policy.

BLM doesn't want one iota of MOOP, but 50,00 tons of emisions is acceptable.
Dan