The Chronicle, 3/8/2001
TACOMA -- Gov. Gary Locke gave his approval Tuesday to plans for a 520-megawatt natural gas power plant south of Chehalis as part of an energy package that would eventually add 1,100 megawatts to the state's energy supply.
His signature at a Tacoma press conference is the last hurdle in a 6-year quest by Tractebel Power to build a natural gas-powered generation facility on Bishop Road south of Chehalis.
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Construction will begin in May, said Kevin Finan, business development manager for Tractebel, which is based in Belgium with an American headquarters in Texas.
The plant should start producing power in November of 2003, Finan said.
The Chehalis City Council still has to approve agreements to provide water and sewer service to the plant. The council will consider the issue at its March 12 meeting.
Locke officially approved the company's amended site certification agreement, which modifies his original 1997 approval of an earlier plan for the plant.
The amendment changes the plant from a water-cooled facility to air-cooled, reducing water use from a planned 3 million gallons a day to an average of 192,000 per day, and takes advantage of newer turbine technology to add 60 megawatts of generation capacity to the original 460.
Tractebel will also be allowed to sell its electricity on the open merchant market, rather than through long-term contracts. This company request means that power generated in Chehalis would not necessarily be sold to Washington customers, but would go to the highest bidder.
''Right now, we do not have a commitment to sell power to anyone,'' Finan said.
The state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, recommended in November that the governor approve the plan, with the exception of changes to air emissions limits, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency had yet to approve.
According to Doug Hardesty, manager of the EPA's local Federal and Delegated Air Programs Unit, the EPA recently came to an agreement with Tractebel to reduce emissions using new control technology.
''It allows them to move forward with their project with emissions limits that are more strict than they had a year ago,'' Hardesty said.
Newly generated power must go along with conservation to get the state through the difficult summer period, Locke emphasized.
''New generation is not going to get us through the next eight to 12 months,'' Locke said. ''Conservation is critical.''
What will have an immediate effect in Washington are two other deals announced by the governor. Spokane-based Avista Corp. will be allowed to operate an older natural-gas turbine plant in Spokane County 24 hours a day for 90 days. Usually, the plant operates only 500 hours a year because of environmental concerns.
The Spokane plant will generate about 66 megawatts in the next three months. In return, Avista agreed to offset any pollution emitted by the plant by cutting back on pollution from other sources.
''I am willing to speed up the permitting process, and be somewhat flexible with environmental rules, as long as this key principle stands: There can be no net harm to the environment,'' Locke said.
BP-Amoco reached a similar deal with the state. The company will replace old diesel turbines with 14 cleaner gas turbines at its Cherry Point refinery in Whatcom County. The company will produce 73 megawatts of power, enough to feed the refinery's energy needs instead of buying from Puget Sound Energy.
''We want to be in control of our own destiny,'' said Rick Porter, BP Amoco business unit leader for the Cherry Point refinery.
In return, the refinery will offset any pollution caused by the gas turbines.
As part of the deal, Avista and BP will both contribute money to energy assistance for poor people. Avista will give at least $300,000 to low-income energy assistance, and BP will give $100,000.
Two other companies, Goldendale Energy and TransAlta outside Centralia, have been approved to build new plants that will generate a total of about 500 megawatts of energy.
TransAlta's facility, which falls just under the 250-megawatt limit requiring an EFSEC permit, could be on line as early as the summer of 2002, say company officials.
A bill supported by many Southwest Washington legislators would make EFSEC review of potential power plants optional for facilities under 650 megawatts.
According to Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, this change would speed up construction of plants such as Tractebel's Chehalis facility, which was originally proposed to EFSEC in 1994.
It was a beautiful, cloudless day for Locke's outdoor news conference -- and that's part of the problem. The sunny days enjoyed recently by Western Washington are making a bad energy situation worse, Locke and others warned.
''We are looking at a drought of near epic proportions,'' said Bonneville Power Administration acting administrator Steve Wright.
Locke said voluntary conservation efforts in Washington have cut consumption by 5 percent, and he urged residents to continue saving energy whenever possible.
Brian Mittge covers local government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at bmittge@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8237.
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