CARLIN, Nev. - The Bureau of Land Management is protesting a water rights application for a proposed $220 million power plant because the company did not first obtain the agency's approval.
Coastal Power Co.'s bid will be reviewed at a pre-hearing conference set for Nov. 30 in Carson City.
''We're basically trying to get them to work with us,'' said Helen Hankins, field manager for the BLM's Elko office.
The purpose of the conference is to weigh opposition to the water allocations the company wants for cooling operations at the planned 450-megawatt gas-fired plant.
Coastal Power filed three applications on May 27 for the right to divert up to 3,500 acre-feet of water a year from three Newmont Mining Corp. dewatering wells located at the Gold Quarry Mine.
Hankins said the BLM's primary concern is with the dewatering wells.
''Two are on private lands and we did not protest those,'' she said. ''The only one that we protested is the one on public land.''
