LOGAN – A meeting of the Logan Municipal Council turned rowdy here on April 1, prior to a vote to approve the purchase of an interest in a natural gas power plant in Idaho.
Despite the vocal disapproval of an audience of mostly young environmental advocates, council members ultimately okayed Resolution 25-12, clearing the way for the purchase of 15 mega-watts of electricity from the Power County Power Project.
Only council member Ernesto López voted against that proposal, allying himself with the majority of the audience who viewed the council’s action as a missed opportunity to take a bold step toward renewable energy sources.
The council’s deliberations on the resolution were interrupted several times by members of the audience who shouted their objections.
Those environmental advocates had stated their cases for the rejection of the proposal by Mark Montgomery, the director of Logan Light & Power, during a previous public hearing that lasted more than an hour.
Many of those comments simply echoed those advanced during a similar contentious council meeting on Jan. 7, where the council denied Montgomery’s request to commit the city to a 30-year, $284 million contract to purchase power from the new facility being constructed in Power County, ID.
Council chair Jeannie Simmonds responded to the interruptions from the April 1 audience members by inviting anyone who could not maintain decorum to leave the council chambers, a suggestion that Utah State University professor Patrick Belmont nosily followed.
A member of the city’s Renewable Energy & Sustainability Advisory Board, Belmont had earlier in the day used a Cache Chamber of Commerce online forum to marshal opposition to Montgomery’s scaled-down proposal.
Mayor Holly Daines observed that Montgomery’s proposal – reduced from 30 mega-watts to 15 mega-watts – would complement a recent request from council members for the city to study the feasibility of creating a 15 mega-watt solar array within city limits.
The central issue concerning city officials is the constant tug-of-war between base load power capacity and peak power needs.
Base load energy is everyday, continuous capacity, while electrical peak load is when the demand for electricity is at its highest and local utilities must provide more power than normal. Peak load can occur at any time, but most often occurs in the evening during the summer months when air conditioners are running.
Logan Light & Power now provides energy to city residents through a combination of both local generation and open market purchases. Fossil fuels account for about 64 percent of that capacity, while renewable sources add 22 percent and market purchases cover 14 percent of city needs.
Two coal-fired resources (the Sunnyside and Hunter plants) are retiring over the next seven years, with a combined loss of 18 mega-watts of power or about 32 percent of Logan’s base load capacity.
Much of the criticism of Montgomery’s proposal from the audience was aspirational, citing the need for council members to signal their hope for renewable energy sources to emerge in the near future. But none of the speakers at the April 1 meeting had any suggestions for concrete solutions to the long-term power shortfall.
Council member Mark Anderson, meanwhile, argued convincingly that electricity from the natural gas plant in Idaho was needed to help cover that 18 mega-watt shortfall in base load power. He also emphasized the environmental benefits of shifting a portion of the city’s power demands to relatively clean-burning natural gas rather than coal power.
“Remember,” Anderson warned, “solar is not base load power … There’s nothing on the horizon (in terms of renewable energy) available for the next seven years.”
The situation is further complicated, according to council member Mike Johnson, by the fact that power suppliers in California are willing to pay three times what Utahns can afford to pay for energy.
“We can’t afford to bankrupt the city on its power budget,” Johnson said flatly.