| Show I Moon Lake Electric asks for power site help Moon Lake Electric Association presented preliminary plans for a 1000 megawatt fired coal power plant with alternate sites in the Bonanza area of Uintah County to the stale state Energy Conservation Conservation Con Con- and Development Council last week Twelve prospective sites have been selected by a consultant firm Merrill J J. J Millett general manager ot Moon Lake told lold the Energy Council Moon Lake Isnow Isnow is isnow now seeking the assistance and advice from the Energy Council on a site selection Millett said Moon Lake is second to Utah Power and Light Co in size in Utah and the power demand has grown 20 to 27 percent annually for the past four years This growth has far outstripped the firms firm's capacity necessitating the purchase of about 60 percent of its power supply from Millett told the Energy Council the proposed power plant would use coal near Rangely Colo already leased by Moon Lake and probably convey it to the selected plant plantsite plantsite plantsite site by a slurry line The project would require acre feet of water annually for which the firm has already applied to the Utah Water Board The proposed sites are all in inthe inthe inthe the area south of Vernal two on Indian land the others clustered in the vicinity of Bonanza on land The site favored by the consultants is just east of the Bonanza road from US U.S. 40 about 34 airline miles southeast of Vernal Water for the plant would be drawn from the proposed WhiteRiver WhiteRiver White WhiteRiver River Reservoir just south of Bonanza If that project didn't materialize Mr Millett said his company could build its ils own reservoir off TilE THE FAVORED site is about 20 miles south of Dinosaur National Monument and with prevailing winds from the north and west wesl air pollution is not anticipated The plant stacks would not be visible from US U.S. 40 Millett explained The next step in the project is isto isto isto to do air modeling at the alternative sites siles at al request of the Bureau of Land Mana Management ement Moon Lake Electric wants the Energy Councils Council's assistance in inthe inthe inthe the choice of a definite site so a site application can be made to the The Energy Council is currently planning a statewide survey survey of possible energy development sites but Mr Millett said his firm couldn't wait for the conclusion of that thai study In Iq addition to lo the heavy purchase of power from demand has been heavily increased increased increased in in- creased for Moon Lake by oil shale development plans on the Colorado side Mr Millett stressed MOON l LAKE is a participant in the Intermountain mountain Power Project planned in Wayne County but Mr Millett said several factors have prompted his company to go ahead with plans for an independent plant IPP is facing costly delays which makes the rising costs of its ils ultimate power production less attractive he noted adding that both plants are needed We feel we can move faster than IPP he told the council Our plant would be smaller The power from it would be distributed by all the cooperatives headquartered in Utah Almost all of the power would be utilized d in Utah And there wouldn't be the environmental environmental en en- objections |
