Pinal Today

The Salt River Project (SRP) Pinal County facility expansion proposed on April 12 was rejected after controversy erupted over long-term environmental impacts.

The plan was shot down in a 4-1 vote, a shocking defeat for the energy giant. SRP sought to double the size of the Coolidge Generating Station, which they acquired three years ago. The company said its expansion would help the energy giant meet the ever-increasing energy demand of its service territory. 

Many organizations, including Rural Arizona Action, a Florence-based advocacy group, and the national environmental justice organization, Sierra Club, exhausted all options to put a stop to the plan, according to NewsBreak.

"We're going to stand in partnership with the residents of Randolph, the Sierra Club, and a lot of other clean energy advocates in the community to really emphasize that this is an environmental injustice, and that corporation commissioners should vote 'no' on this expansion," Rural Arizona Action Research Assistant Kate Boettcher said leading up to the vote, NewsBreak reported.

The majority's resistance to the plan shocked many, as the proposal passed SRP's board in September in a closer vote of 8-6, according to NewsBreak.

"It was definitely controversial within the SRP board; it only passed by one vote. [The project] will be something that SRP customers have to pay for," Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr told NewsBreak. "I don't know what the Corporation Commission is going to do, but I know what we hope they'll do."

Boettcher said many Randolph residents were surprised that SRP was considering the expansion, since there was no announcement or warning given to them.

"A lot of the conditions that the Salt River Project has committed to only came after the opposition of the community," Boettcher said.

Many, like Commissioner Sarah Kennedy, can agree that SRP needs a higher source of energy capacity, but they cannot get on board with the choice of doing so with a polluting fossil gas facility, according to KNXV.

"A lot of times, people like to say, 'Well, it's not as bad as [burning] coal,' but less-bad is still bad," Bahr said about the plant expansion's potential air-polluting effects, according to NewsBreak. "If you look at the emissions associated with gas plants, especially if you look at how the gas is extracted and the methane that's leaked into the air, it's pretty significant."