Another One Bites the Dust As Mohave’s Clock Runs Out
Unable to find a buyer and facing expiration in 2010 of their operating permit, the owners of a controversial coal-fueled powerplant shuttered in 2005 will dismantle it starting late this year. The Mohave Generating Station near Laughlin, Nev., had operated since 1999 under a consent decree requiring air-pollution-control retrofits to improve visibility in the Grand Canyon.
Decommissioning, to start in the fourth quarter, will be complete in two years at a net cost of $300 million after the sale of equipment, says Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander. A contractor has not been named. Edison was operator and 56% owner, with co-owners Salt River Project (20%), Nevada Energy (14%), and the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (10%).