PHOENIX - With a unanimous vote, the Arizona Corporation Commission denied SouthWestern Power Group II's application to build the 1,800 megawatt Toltec Power Station in Eloy, Arizona. The applicants failed to prove a need for the project and chose the wrong site for a project this magnitude, the Commissioners said. The project, approximately 8 miles from Picacho Peak, a popular recreation area in the southern Arizona desert, would have generated enough power for a half million people or more, according to testimony. But the combination of its location in a sensitive environment and the applicant's failure to adequately address the need issue, compelled a "no" vote, according to all three Commissioners.

"Need is a complicated issue. If you build it, they [wholesale power buyers] will come, is not a valid presumption," Commissioner Marc Spitzer said. "The applicant failed to show that they had buyers for the power. Additionally, they also failed to prove that they had financing to move forward."

Commissioner Jim Irvin said that the Commission's job is to always look at each and every application on its merit. Land in the immediate vicinity shows evidence of subsidence - sinking, cracks or fissures in the earth's surface.

"Subsidence is a condition caused by a variety of factors, but certainly evidence shows that excessive groundwater pumping can make a bad situation worse," Irvin said. "This plant does not meet the interests of the State of Arizona. It's not in the public interest to approve it."

"As each new power project comes forward, we are setting the environmental bar higher," Commission Chairman Bill Mundell explained. "We've ordered tough precedent-setting emissions controls."

The unanimous vote of the Commission followed a lengthy process that began with an application to the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee early in 2001. The Committee, which gathers evidence and testimony on power projects, held more than 11 days of hearings. The transcript alone totaled more than 2000 pages of testimony, according to Siting Committee Chairman Laurie Woodall. The Committee recommended approval of the project only if the applicant met 22 stringent operational and environmental conditions.

Toltec project opponents appealed the recommendation of the Committee. The Commission held oral argument and public comment sessions to listen to the concerns of the opponents and members of the public. Yesterday's meeting concludes the Commission's review of the Toltec Power Station unless the applicant appeals the unanimous decision.

"This is the wrong place for a power plant," Chairman Mundell said. "My visit to the proposed plant site prior to the vote helped me make my decision."