FERC Project Nos. 13227 and 13146. Comments on the application for a preliminary permit known as Bull Canyon Pumped Storage Water Power Project and Long Canyon Pumped Storage Water Power Project by Utah Independent Power, the applicants. Pursuant to Federal Register Notice of July 16, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 137.
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Proposed hydro-electric reservoirs raise concerns about environmental impact
Times-Independent
by Ron Georg
Representatives of Utah Independent Power, including company president Frank Mazzone, will make a presentation at the Grand County Council’s Aug. 19 evening session detailing their plans to create two reservoirs – that would comprise a pumped water energy storage facility – in the Bull Canyon area.
The plan appears simple. The company would build two reservoirs, one higher than the other. They’d allow the higher reservoir to drain into the lower one, through a set of turbines to create electricity. Then they’d pump it up and start over.
Mazzone said that because there is much less demand on the electrical grid during low-peak hours and electricity is cheaper, Utah Independent Power would purchase the inexpensive, surplus electricity to pump the water. Then they would turn the stored water back into electricity during peak times, when power is at a premium.
“What we do is we displace the use of high cost fossil fuel with low cost energy that’s available when people aren’t using it,” Mazzone said.
The plan has a potential ecological benefit, he said. The nation’s electrical power grid is dominated by coal-fired plants, as well as some nuclear facilities, which can’t vary their output easily. So they operate at a level slightly below peak need, and they are supplemented by plants which can be ramped up quickly, mostly natural gas facilities.
The need to supplement the grid with natural gas plants can be offset by storage, according to Mazzone. Since there is no battery technology that can handle this task, pumped water energy storage is one of the few available options. Because wind power is more effective during off-peak hours, the technology can be used to store green energy. According to Mazzone, there are more than 100 such plants operating worldwide, mostly owned by major utilities in this country.
Utah Independent Power has applied for a permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will be a 30-month, $5 million process, according to papers filed with FERC. That process will include input from the Bureau of Land Management, though Moab Field Office Manager Shelley Smith said she is uncertain how much input the agency will have. “I’m not sure how that FERC process works,” she said.
Further complicating matters for the BLM is the transition between resource management plans, which set the context for all BLM decisions. “We’re kind of between plans, so we have to operate under our 1985 plan until our new plan is final,” Smith said. “We’re identifying what the resource conflicts would be under both plans.”
Those conflicts could include some that preclude disturbance of natural areas. “I think there’s bighorn sheep habitat, but I’m waiting for our specialists to see what sort of conflicts exist,” Smith said. She emphasized that the agency doesn’t make judgments. “We identify the conflicts within our resource plan; we don’t opine one way or the other. We would have to issue the right of way, and we would conduct that environmental assessment.”
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance won’t be quite so objective in their response, according to field advocate Scott Braden. “We’re opposed, and we’re going to be participating,” he said. “While we’re sympathetic to people’s need for energy, we feel this is unsuitable. It would be tragic to lose more wild areas.”
Braden said the proposal would affect an area known for its wilderness qualities. “It would not be appropriate in an area the BLM has identified as having wilderness characteristics, especially in a place like Moab, where the economy is based on the scenery,” he said.
Mazzone said he hopes other aspects of his plan will outweigh those concerns. “We have nothing to hide. The facility produces no air emissions, no water emissions, no noise, and we are looking to build the facility so the only thing you see will be the surface of the lakes,” he said. “All we can do is be honest with what we have, and trust that people will be logical about decisions they make. We look upon this as a public good.”
