Reid Gardner Generating Station was a 557 megawatt

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

fired plant on located near Moapa, Nevada. It was co-owned by NV Energy (69%) and

California Department of Water Resources The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is part of the California Natural Resources Agency and is responsible for the management and regulation of the State of California's water usage. The department was created in 1956 by Governor G ...

(31%). The plant consisted of four units. The first three were 100 MW units and were placed into service in 1965, 1968 and 1976. The fourth unit placed into service in 1983 produced . Three units of Reid Gardner were shut down in 2014; the fourth went in March 2017. The demolition of the plant was completed in 2019.

Controversy

Due to its location adjacent to the

Moapa Band of Paiute Indians The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians of the Moapa River Indian Reservation are a federally recognized tribe of Southern Paiute, who live in southern Nevada on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. They were in the past called the Muappa / Moapat and th ...

reservation and one of their communities, the plant had long been a concern over the health effects on the nearby residents. As a result of several agreements to improve the air quality around the plant, the upgraded plant was ranked as one of the 10 cleanest coal plants in the US. Concerns have also been expressed over particulates in the air as the plant can be upwind of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

and

Bryce Canyon Bryce Canyon National Park () is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern ...

. Both of these canyons are Class I areas which place limits on the amount of haze allowed.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Reid Gardner Station was a major emitter of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

, the main greenhouse gas contributing to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. California's Department of Water Resources is planning to sell its stake in the plant, and purchase less carbon-intensive electricity as a part of its overall plan to reduce emissions mandated by California law (AB32, the

Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill (AB) 32, is a California State Law that fights global warming by establishing a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state. AB32 was c ...

Electricity from the plant produces disproportionally high amounts of GHGs as compared to other SWP electricity generation sources. Emissions from Reid Gardner for electricity delivered to DWR have typically been over 1.5 million mtCO2e illion metric tonnes CO₂ equivalentsper year (30%-50% of total DWR operational emissions). Between 1997 and 2007, the average emissions rate from Reid Gardner for electricity supplied to DWR has been 1.116 mtCO2e/MWh. This is more than twice the emissions rate associated with the general pool electricity from the integrated California market. (CA DWR 2012, page 54)

Waste

The

coal ash Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed wh ...

from the plant is stored on site in a

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the wast ...

Notes

{{coord, 36.657, -114.634, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NV_dim:1000, display=title, name=Reid Gardner Generating Station Coal-fired power stations in Nevada Buildings and structures demolished in 2019 Buildings and structures in Clark County, Nevada Energy infrastructure completed in 1965 Energy infrastructure completed in 1968 Energy infrastructure completed in 1976 Energy infrastructure completed in 1983 Former coal-fired power stations in the United States Former power stations in Nevada