Idaho Power will invest in coal, for now

By Rocky Barker
Idaho Stateman

Idacorp CEO LaMont Keen said Thursday that Idaho Power Co. will continue to rely on coal plants in Wyoming and Nevada, but revisit that decision in its next two-year planning process.

Keen told the 10 stockholders who attended the annual meeting that Idaho Power will ask the Idaho Public Utilities Commission later this year to approve its decision to spend millions on required pollution-control upgrades on the Jim Bridger plants in Wyoming.

Idaho Power had a contractor analyze the economics of upgrading the coal plants against the cost of building a cleaner gas-fired plant. Idaho Power spent nearly $400 million to build its Langley Gulch gas plant near Fruitland.

“Without these coal plants, the air conditioners won’t be on and the pumps won’t be lifting the water onto the crops,” Keen said in response to the stockholders’ questions. Read more