Calif. firm seeks to build coal-fired power plant in Idaho

Three decades after overwhelming public opposition killed the last attempt to build Idaho’s first coal-fired power plant, a California company is raising the prospect again.

Sempra Energy Resources, a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, has an option on land between Glenns Ferry and Bliss, and spokesman Art Larsen said a coal-fired plant is being considered for the site.

"We’re not providing any specific information about land and water options at this time," Larsen said Friday. "We’re still in the very early stages of identifying the viability of such a project.

"There are needs for additional power in the region and diversity in the fuel used," he said. "We’ve been studying the viability of this for a year now. It’s a lengthy process."

Larsen declined to identify the potential market for the power and what timetable the company was operating on.

But rancher John McCallum confirmed that Sempra took the option on property he owns along the Snake River south of King Hill.

There is no housing in the area, McCallum said, and most of the surrounding ranchland is his.

Still, opposition similar to what killed the coal-fired plant proposal in the 1970s was beginning to surface. Now, however, it appears tempered, at least initially, by the impact of new generating technology and economic concerns.