By Joan Meiners, Arizona Republic
MOHAVE VALLEY (ARIZONA)– At the corner of King Street and Aquarius Drive, on a dilapidated structure used for farmworker housing, a piece of a particle-board sign patches up a hole in one window where an air conditioning unit likely used to be. What’s left spells out the words “Energy Efficient.”
This building nestled among dusty alfalfa fields is now the closest residence to the new proposed location for the Mohave Energy Park, Mohave Electric Cooperative’s natural gas peaker plant project that has been fueling unrest across Arizona’s Mohave County since the beginning of the year.
Last December, senior residents of the Sunrise Hills neighborhood in nearby Fort Mohave found out about plans by local electricity distributor MEC and its regional provider AEPCO, the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, to construct two quick-start turbines half a mile from their homes. The retirees spoke out against what they saw as deceitful skirting of zoning and notification procedures that left them mistrustful of the utilities’ intentions.
MEC vowed to search for another location. But on March 18, the cooperative’s CEO, Tyler Carlson, told the Mohave County Board of Supervisors they had been unable to find a suitable alternative site for the peaker plant, which the utility partners say is essential to maintaining energy reliability as this rural desert region south of Las Vegas continues to grow.
Weeks later, after coverage of the dispute by The Arizona Republic following months of interviews and inquiries, MEC pivoted and announced on April 12 to an invite-only group of member ratepayers and elected leaders that they had shifted plans for the natural gas facility to a site a few miles away.
Read the full first chapter here: A solar ban, a gas power plant and the rural retirees firing back at dirty energy
Now, people living near the new proposed location — a lower-income agricultural area close to tribal lands and several schools — are echoing Sunrise Hills residents’ concerns about how the peaker plant may endanger human and environmental health, but fear they’re up against an energy Goliath with renewed determination.
If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
