Plans for West Bountiful power plant on hold

Consolidated Energy Utah's plans for a much-contested 109-megawatt power plant in south Davis County are on hold.

The company issued a news release Tuesday saying it has listened to comments from the community and will go back to the drawing board.

Consolidated Energy wanted to build the plant adjacent to the Holly Oil refinery in West Bountiful. The power plant would have been fueled by residual oil and petroleum coke — two cheap but dirty byproducts of the refining process.

"The Davis County facility, as it is now designed, would be the cleanest power plant using refinery byproduct fuels in the world," company officials said in the release. "Nevertheless, we will strive to achieve an even cleaner solution."

Plans for the plant, as well as the Utah Division of Air Quality's intent to issue an operating permit, were met with vehement opposition from Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Utah Moms for Clean Air and the newly formed Davis County Community Coalition.

Nearly 300 people attended a public hearing last month at the DAQ. Almost all of those who spoke opposed the plant, saying any new pollution in southern Davis County is too much. Hundreds of e-mails and letters have been sent to state and local officials opposing the plant.

"We do not wish to force a community to host a project that does not meet the community's concerns about the project not being in compliance with the coming national and local standards," according to the news release.

"I think we're all elated to see that," said Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville.

Barrus recently introduced HB393, which is designed to place a two-year moratorium on certain new polluters in non-attainment areas, which are areas out of compliance with federal air quality standards. Consolidated Energy's plant would have fallen under HB393's reach, and so would other plants along the Wasatch Front.

West Bountiful Mayor James Behunin, who has stated his city will strive to block the plant from being built, said he's relieved at the delay, though he's not sure what to make of the company's statement about continuing to work with petroleum coke and residual oil.

Cecilee Price-Huish, one of the co-founders of the Davis County Community Coalition, said she, too, is relieved — for now.

"I hope it's not a temporary hold and that they will come back with a similar project," Price-Huish said. "We feel strongly that any such project would be mindful of public health and preservation of air quality."