Site of the nation’s ‘dirtiest coal plant’ is now part of Nevada’s clean energy

Fifty miles northeast of Las Vegas, just outside the unincorporated town of Moapa, the Muddy River flows through a flat-bottomed desert valley.

The spring-fed perennial stream meanders from its headwaters near the lush, palm tree-dotted Warm Springs Natural Area on its way to Lake Mead. Along the way, it passes the former Reid Gardner Power Station.

For nearly five decades, the station stood in stark juxtaposition to the river; a bastion of steel and cement surrounded by barbed wire, with four towering coal-fired units that belched toxic particulates and carbon into the air while producing hundreds of megawatts of power. In 2007, it was rated the nation’s dirtiest coal plant in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.

Once the future of industrialization, the death knell is ringing for coal across the nation and in Nevada. In the push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lawmakers and utilities are distancing themselves from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. In 2022, it accounted for 19 percent of total U.S. energy-related carbon emissions. 

Following direction from Nevada lawmakers almost a decade ago, NV Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider and operator of the Reid Gardner Power Station, permanently shuttered the plant between 2014 and 2017, decommissioning and finally demolishing it in 2020.

Just one coal-powered plant, NV Energy’s North Valmy Generating Station, remains operational in Nevada. It is scheduled to be retired next year.

“We have almost completely kicked coal out of Nevada,” said Vinny Spotleson, chair of the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club. “I don’t think we’ll see any bit of coal burned in Nevada in the 2030s. There will be zero.”

Reid Gardner operated for nearly 50 years, from 1965 until 2014, and in its early years, was considered a reliable and affordable source of power. At its peak, its 557 megawatts provided enough power to serve nearly 335,000 Nevada households.

Now in its place stands the Reid Gardner Battery Energy Storage System. Boasting row after row of crisp, white cubes, similar to shipping containers, the site is a nod to the future of energy, storing up to 220 megawatts of power generated partially from renewable sources for times of peak demand.

“To transition to 24/7 renewables, battery is one of the solutions that’s going to get us there,” said Jimmy Daghlian, vice president of renewables for NV Energy. 

Five decades of pollution

For 49 years, Reid Gardner spewed contaminants into the air just 500 feet from land owned by the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians.

In the 1980s, diesel fuel was discovered floating on groundwater at the site, likely from leaks in former underground diesel-fuel piping. Remediation began in 1988 and is still ongoing.

For decades, tribal members were subjected to pollution from the coal plant. In 2013, the tribe, along with the Sierra Club, filed a lawsuit against NV Energy and the California Department of Water Resources (a partial owner of the plant) over environmental contaminants.

When operational, the Sierra Club estimates that Reid Gardner emitted more than 4,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, 1,200 tons of sulfur dioxide and 5 million tons of carbon pollution into the air each year. All are pollutants known to cause respiratory illness. 

Reporting on the lawsuit in 2015, the Associated Press detailed the complaints of tribal members living nearby who alleged respiratory ailments from the plant’s emissions.

In 2015, the lawsuit was settled for $4.3 million, although NV Energy and the California Department of Water Resources didn’t acknowledge liability or wrongdoing for the alleged health problems and water pollution claimed in the suit.

“For 40 years, they were right under the crap that came out of the Reid Gardner coal-fired generating plant,” former Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) told The Nevada Independent before his death in 2021. The plant was not named after the former senator; it was named after Reid Gardner, a former chairman, president and general manager at the utility company who retired in 1963. 

Reid and the tribe pushed for the plant’s closure; in 2013, Nevada lawmakers passed SB123 directing NV Energy to eliminate 800 megawatts of coal-fired power generation from its portfolio. The bill also mandated the utility develop 350 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy. 

When the plant finally closed, the tribe and conservation groups celebrated.

“The Moapa Band of Paiutes is relieved that Reid Gardner Power Station is finally ceasing operations,” the Moapa Band of Paiutes Tribal Council said in a statement at the time, describing it as “a source of…