Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Corrective Actions

NV Energy — Reid Gardner Power Station

Readers Note: This webpage provides information about ongoing remediation activities at the Reid Gardner Power Station in Southern Nevada. Information about "appeals" related to the power station are posted on the State Environmental Commissions Website — look under "Appeal Hearings".

Reid Gardner is 4 unit 650 MW coal fired power plant located on 480 acres in Moapa Valley, Nevada. The station is located just 4 miles west of Glendale and 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas. NV Energy operates the Reid Gardner Generating Facility.

The Muddy River crosses the site, as does the Union Pacific Railroad's Las Vegas -Salt Lake City line. The plant is surrounded by BLM land to the north and south, Paiute agricultural land and residences on the west, and an inactive dairy farm on the east. The first unit was placed in service in 1965 and the fourth unit came online in 1983.

More about the Reid Gardner Power Station - Read Download Fact Sheet [pdf] [The 4 page 2012 fact sheet includes background information, a remediation overview, recent remediation activities, and a list of current reports]

Remediation Activities:

The Reid Gardner Station (RGS) has a number of raw water storage ponds, process water evaporation ponds, and fly ash settling ponds. Process water, which has been used beyond the treatable limits, is routed to onsite ponds for evaporation. Waste management units are present throughout the Site and surrounding area. NV Energy has implemented source control methods including salt and pond solids removal and pond lining on most of the remaining RGS ponds.

Interim remediation measures have been developed including construction and operation of a groundwater collection system south of Ponds D & E and north of the mesa. Other long-term Corrective Action measures include a diesel recovery system that has been in operation since 1988 and upgraded in 2003. The diesel recovery system continues to operate in the eastern portion (power generation area) of the site recovering diesel and contaminated groundwater, which is traceable to the former operation of large onsite aboveground storage tanks.

NV Energy and the NDEP entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) for the Site on Feb. 22, 2008. The AOC calls for NV Energy to continue with environmental contaminant characterization activities and for the identification of clean-up measures for the soil and groundwater at the Site. Additionally, the AOC calls for the implementation and long-term operation and maintenance of NDEP-approved clean-up measures for the Site.

In addition to the groundwater contamination associated with the on-Site ponds, various other isolated areas of soil and/or groundwater contamination have been identified. All areas of soil and groundwater contamination associated with the Site operations will be addressed through implementation of the AOC by sampling soil and groundwater to characterize site contamination and then, as appropriate, through NDEP-approved clean-up activities.

Areas of known Releases of Environmental Contaminants from the station onto adjacent property include, but are not limited to, areas of Hogan Wash, property north of Pond 4A, property east of the power generation units, property north and east of waste management unit-4 (WMU-4 Mesa Landfill), and property south of WMU-4.

Environmental Contaminants identified at the RGS facility include, but are not limited to, elevated concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), sulfate, chloride, dissolved metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and petroleum hydrocarbons.