Published August 2001

Power plant plans under review by state council

By Kathy Day
Herald Economy Writer

Plans are still bubbling below the surface for two power plants that could be built along the Snohomish River, but a decision is still a long time away.

Last month, a new form of the plan surfaced in a petition to the state’s Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council that details two plants operated by separate companies with shared facilities such as the steam turbine, control room and administrative building.

Carol Clawson, spokeswoman for FPL Energy — the primary owner of the planned Everett Delta I plant — said the project remains in various stages of internal review. She said she did not know when the review would be completed. Previously, the Florida-based company said it planned to start construction in early 2000.

FPL has received permits to build a 248-megawatt natural-gas and steam-powered plant on the former site of a Weyerhaeuser Corp. mill.

Another company, led by New York investment banking firm Wasserstein Perella Co. Inc., has permits to build a nearly identical facility on an adjacent lot. The firm acquired controlling interest of the Everett Delta II property through foreclosure in June 2000.

Each is proposed as a 248-megawatt plant, which is below the 350-megawatt threshold for review by the energy siting council. Without any changes, construction could begin immediately, said Alan Fiksdal, Manager of the energy site council. However, FPL’s request for a ruling on whether they would come under the council’s jurisdiction if some facilities were combined could change that.

As proposed, “this starts looking like one facility (of 496 megawatts). The council will have to grapple with that,” Fiksdal said.

The council is expected to rule by Sept. 12 on the FPL petition. If the ruling is that the plans should be treated as one operation, the question would be “whether they have to re-apply or whether we just take over the existing permits,” Fiksdal said.

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