Climate advocates want more environmental review of plans to convert coal plants to natural gas

Arizona’s three largest utilities have all announced plans to convert old coal plants — which had been scheduled to retire — to natural gas as they face unprecedented energy demand. Those projects are all in different stages of development.

But climate advocates are seeking more environmental review from the state’s utility regulator, the Arizona Corporation Commission.

When a utility wants to build a power plant, it has to get a certificate of environmental compatibility, or CEC, from the commission.

The commission has recently approved conversions of coal plants to natural gas from SRP and TEP with amendments to those original, decades old certificates. 

That means the power companies haven’t been required to go through a hearing process.

“You're cutting the public out and you're limiting the information that's available. And frankly, not making good decisions because you don't have the full picture,” said Sandy Bahr, director of the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club.

Bahr’s organization, along with the Western Resource Advocates and Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association, have all recently asked the Arizona Corporation Commission to change rules to require public hearings when granting major changes to power plants, like the recent coal to gas conversions.

“A lot of things have changed,” Bahr said. “We know a lot more about what the impacts are from some of these pollutants and that needs to be looked at in the process.”

Bahr says the current process favors the utilities.

“Because they're usually the ones with the money, the lawyers, the resources, and sometimes no one intervenes because they don't have resources,” Bahr said.

In a statement, SRP said it has complied with all local, state and federal laws for its Coronado and Springerville Generating Station conversion. The company will have to undergo other reviews to get permits consistent with the federal Clean Air Act and an Aquifer Protection Permit from ADEQ.

Despite the reviews for those other permits, Bahr says the hearing process for Corporation Commission certificates provides the best opportunity for local communities to have their voices heard.

“None of those permitting agencies look at the need versus the impact. And that's ultimately what the certificate of environmental compatibility does,” Bahr said.

The commission declined to comment, as it’s currently reviewing and could change the rules that dictate when to grant certificates.