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 dea ...

fired plant on located near

Moapa, Nevada Moapa is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The population was 1,025 at the 2010 census. It is the largest town in Clark County by land area. Both the second and the third tallest st ...

. It was co-owned by

NV Energy NV Energy is a public utility which generates, transmits and distributes electric service in northern and southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley, and provides natural gas service in the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area of northern Nevada. ...

(69%) and California Department of Water Resources (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 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. 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 transpar ...

, 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 E ...

. 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):

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 when de ...

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 waste ...

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