CARSON CITY -- A planned expansion of military airspace over Eastern Nevada will not adversely affect local economic development plans, including the construction of power plants or wind turbines, state and military officials said Monday.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, state and local Nevada officials and representatives of the U.S. Air Force met for about 90 minutes to discuss concerns about the expansion of the airspace for Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah.

Guinn said the power plants are crucial to the economic development of White Pine County.

"Those will produce just millions of dollars in assessed valuation," he said.

William Anderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, said he heard of no "showstoppers" during the meeting that would prevent the expansion of the airspace, made necessary because of the new generation of aircraft that need more room to train.

Guinn said none of the issues raised at the private meeting, such as the construction of proposed power plants near Ely with smokestacks as high as 650 feet, would be affected by the airspace expansion.

The various officials discussed results of the meeting with the media in Guinn's office.

Anderson said the new airspace would add about 2,400-square-miles of Nevada land north of Ely in an irregular strip about 90 miles long. That area would be used for air-to-air combat training. No live ammunition would be used in the exercises.

The existing base is about 20,000 square miles, with a narrow strip in Nevada.

It will take at least a year to approve the use of the new airspace, he said.

"This is step one of a multi-step process that will take many, many months," Anderson said. "There are tourism impacts, commercial airline potential impacts, environmental impacts, all of which we have to look at, none of which I believe are showstoppers at this point."

Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, who represents White Pine County, said the expansion provides no benefit to eastern Nevada.

"But we want to make sure there is no negative impact," he said. "I think what I heard today is they are willing to work with these counties and see if we can come up with a positive, a benefit."

Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas and affiliate Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno plan to build a 1,500-megawatt, coal fired power plant outside of Ely. The utilities plan to start operating the first unit of the power plant by 2011 followed by the second two years later.

In addition, the electric utilities want to build a 250-mile transmission line that would directly link the Northern and Southern Nevada's companies for the first time. Future plans for the proposed $4 billion Ely Energy Center complex call for installing a plant that burns gasified coal once that technology becomes commercially feasible.

Officials with LS Power say they intend to construct a 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired power plant near Ely. It has formed a venture with Tim Carlson, managing partner of Nevada Wind, to establish a 200-megawatt wind farm that harnesses the wind on the Egan Mountains in White Pine County.

Anderson said the base flies its aircraft at about 18,000 feet, which might be lowered to 14,000 feet. Even so, the level is too high to make the power plants a concern.

Hill Air Force Base is home to many operational and support missions, with the Ogden Air Logistics Center serving as the host organization.

The center provides worldwide engineering and logistics management for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, A-10 Thunderbolt II and the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The base also performs depot maintenance of the F-16, A-10 and C-130 Hercules aircraft.