Power agencies file suit over project

California's power officials may find themselves in a Utah courtroom defending their position on global warming.

On Nov. 13, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) filed suit against the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and the Intermountain Power Agency because of a refusal to support construction of a third unit of the Intermountain Power Project generating station. The plant's two existing units are located near Lynndyl, Millard County, about 15 miles northeast of Delta. Together they are capable of producing nearly 1,800 megawatts of electricity.

However, the department has torpedoed the third unit, apparently because California is concerned about carbon dioxide releases that could contribute to global warming, according to the suit.

The civil suit, filed in 3rd District Court, Salt Lake City, claims that earlier this year "Los Angeles Power decided precipitately and without justification that it would not allow UAMPS or the other project participants develop the Delta site as planned."

Los Angeles may be planning to build a nuclear power plant at the site, according the the suit. "Among other things, developing the site for a nuclear plant would comply with emissions requirements of the California Act (aimed at curbing greenhouse gases) and also avoid the potential political and public outcry that would surely ensue if Los Angeles Power proposed a nuclear plant in its home state."

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power refused to respond to the suit's allegations. "We don't comment on any legal issue, so our statement is 'No comment,"' said the spokesman, Walter Zeisel.

The department is not a participant in the third unit and has no vested interest in it, says the suit. But it "publicly renounced its association with coal-fired power plants and attempted to distance itself from the Intermountain Power Project."

The Los Angeles agency is the largest owner of the two units already constructed, and is entitled to 44.617 percent of the power generated, according to Intermountain Power Agency. Including electricity deliveries to California cities of Anaheim, Riverside, Pasadena, Burbank and Glendale, 74.943 percent of the plant's power is earmarked for that state.

About 14 percent of the plants' power goes to Utah cities and towns including Price, Fillmore, Beaver and others. Utah electrical cooperatives are entitled to a little more than 7 percent, and PacifiCorp gets 4 percent.