Biomass plant could helps solve several problems (water shortages, wildfire problems and rural economic development) in New Mexico

It sounds too good to be true: Whisk water-sucking trees from the bosque, harvest the overgrowth from tinder-dry forests, then burn the slag in brand-new power plants that would put paychecks into rural towns.

By KATE NELSON
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service Albuquerque Tribune

Better yet: Do it with private money.

To Sen. Rod Adair, it isn’t too good to be true.

"It’s incredible," the Roswell Republican said.

The only hitch? Money. About $30 million to $50 million per power plant.

Not a problem, said David Cohen, co-founder of Western Water and Power Production Ltd.

Well, not a huge problem, anyway.

"We’ve had a lot of people courting us – more than we’ve been courting them," he said of his company, which plans to start building its first plant within two years.

"There’s plenty of money sitting around looking for good projects."

Of course, he can’t collect any of it until he has permits and contracts and, he hopes, an extension of an existing tax break from the state so it will cover biomass projects. Together, those would give wings to a project with three-fold benefits, he said.

"New Mexico is suffering from water shortages and wildfire problems and rural economic development," Cohen said. "Development of these power projects will address all three issues in an environmentally beneficial way.

"It’s a win-win proposition for everybody."

Cohen is no green-power gadfly. He served as chairman of the Public Service Commission in the early 1980s and then worked as a utility lawyer for companies such as Public Service Company of New Mexico.

With Jack Maddox, a PNM veteran of 30 years, he formed Western Water and Power this year to explore an idea Adair had proposed last year.

Adair wanted a $300,000 taxpayer-funded study on the feasibility of harvesting nuisance trees and turning them into a fuel source. He introduced the same bill this year, but said Tuesday that he’ll drop it now that Cohen and Maddox are on board.

Within 10 to 15 years, the pair envision building up to seven plants throughout the state, each of which could produce enough energy for 25,000 households. The power would be sold to utility companies.

Each plant would create about 100 jobs.

The city of Raton has already signed a contract optioning its land for a plant. And entities as disparate as the Sierra Club and utility companies have endorsed the concept, Cohen said.

"We have a cross section of every group that normally would be fighting each other," he said. "As far as I know, we’re the only ones who’ve figured out the relationship of water, power and the environment in the West."

(Contact Kate Nelson of The Tribune in Albuquerque, N.M., at http://www.abqtrib.com.)

http://www.abqtrib.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=POWERPLANTS-03-12-03&cat=AS