Los Angeles backs out of plan for more Utah power

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn on Tuesday ordered the city to withdraw from a planned $2.1 billion coal power plant in Utah, saying the city's $215 million share of the project should be spent on cleaner energy sources instead.

In a letter to leaders of the Department of Water and Power, Hahn wrote that the city wouldn't need the extra electricity that would be generated by expanding the Intermountain Power Plant, a giant coal-powered generator that is shared by the DWP and other utilities.

The DWP gets about one-third of its electricity from the Delta, Utah, plant. Environmentalists attacked the city's plans to invest in its expansion, saying ratepayer dollars shouldn't be spent on high-pollution power sources.

"Basically, we're not going to need a third coal plant in Utah," said Deputy Mayor Doane Liu. "We don't need a large surplus of electricity at this point."

The Intermountain Power Agency has been working on building a third unit at the Intermountain Power Project in Millard County.

According to a 2003 report commissioned by IPA and prepared by the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, construction of a third 950-megawatt unit, capable of providing enough electricity for roughly 450,000 homes, would lead to more than 1,000 new construction jobs and 75 permanent jobs.

The Intermountain Power Plant currently generates about 1,800 megawatts of electricity from two existing units. Nearly 75 percent of that power is reserved for California purchasers, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the cities of Anaheim, Riverside, Pasadena, Burbank and Glendale.

While 23 Utah cities already purchase power from IPP, another 17 Utah municipalities are interested in hedging their risks against a volatile open market, Reed Searle, IPA general manager, said last year.

In addition, cities in Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California have expressed interest in buying power from a new unit, Searle said at that time. Only 10 percent to 15 percent of the new generation would end up in California. The DWP has spent about $1.7 million on the proposed expansion of the Intermountain Power Plant so far, said the city utility's acting general manager, Enrique Martinez. The expansion is scheduled for completion in 2009.

The DWP has no assurance of a refund of the $1.7 million, which was spent for legal and engineering fees.