Environmentalists sue over haze from Nevada power plant

A California-based environmental group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency in federal court, alleging it has failed to put a cap on a coal-fired plant in Southern Nevada, creating a permanent haze over the Grand Canyon.

And that's not a good thing for the environment or tourism, it contends.

Earthjustice, a decades-old group that has long used the courts as a conservation tool, filed the lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco.

In it, the group contends the EPA is failing to monitor NV Energy's Reid Gardner Generating Station, whose operation next to the Moapa Indian Reservation has stirred controversy.

In response Tuesday, the utility said it wasn't too worried by the lawsuit because it reflects Earthjustice's national goal to "eliminate coal as an important energy resource."

"NV Energy will continue its commitment to operate the Reid Gardner Generating Station in an environmentally responsible manner, in compliance with all federal and state laws, and in the best interests of its customers," company spokeswoman Jennifer Schuricht said in a statement.

But Suma Peesapati, an attorney for Earthjustice, said that the EPA isn't doing a good enough job on the federal level and that the plant right now is in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.

"Clearing the haze in national parks such as the Grand Canyon is not only important for the health of local communities and the iconic beauty of the parks," Peesapati said. "But these viewsheds are important to regional and local tourism industries, which depend on visitors to sustain their economies.

"Cleaning up Reid Gardner is long overdue, and the EPA has the ability to do so."

A viewshed is an area that is visible from a specific location.

NV Energy officials have said that emissions from Reid Gardner account for only a fraction of the haze at the Grand Canyon.

The lawsuit comes in response to a series of new rules instituted by the EPA in early August.

Under the rules, federal regulators agreed to let NV Energy upgrade the power plant's emission controls without requiring a major retrofit so expensive it probably would have put the plant out of business.

In the midst of all this is the Indian reservation, 50 miles north of Las Vegas. Residents there say they are suffering high rates of asthma and other health problems they blame on emissions and blowing coal ash and dust from the plant.

The ash and dust covers many of the homes when the winds whip up like they did Monday night, said William Anderson, chairman of the Moapa Band of Paiutes.

"Our families have lived here for generations. We are indigenous to this area and, as usual, we're the ones who are suffering the consequences - nobody else," Anderson said. But these days, Anderson is trying to promote the recent agreement between the tribe and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to buy energy from a 250-megawatt solar plant to be built on the reservation.

He is hoping that everything will fall into place and that in the near future, the coal-fired plant will be shuttered.

"We have to move on this," Anderson said. "We have to start now."

Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.