Ely Energy Center

The Ely Energy Center was a proposed coal-fired power plant that was to be built in Steptoe Valley, north of the city of Ely and located in White Pine County, Nevada. The plant was proposed by Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Resources in January 2006. Construction was to begin on a 750-megawatt power unit in 2007, with completion by 2011. A second 750-megawatt unit was to be built within a few years after the first one, with a total cost of $3.8 billion. The companies also planned to ultimately add two 500-megawatt coal gasification plants to the project as soon as such technology became commercially viable. The total cost, upon full completion, would amount to $5 billion. The Ely Energy Center would have been the largest power plant in Nevada, and the state's largest energy project since the construction of Hoover Dam.

The project faced opposition from environmental groups and senator Harry Reid, but was supported by Nevada governor Jim Gibbons, the Ely Shoshone Tribe, and some Ely city officials. The project was postponed for three and a half years in November 2007, due to delays from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in issuing an environmental impact statement (EIS). In February 2009, the project was delayed for approximately 10 years, until the technology to capture and store carbon dioxide pollution would become commercially feasible. The decision was made due to the possibility of the United States Congress enacting carbon emission tax laws, which would increase the project's cost and make it unfeasible. Rising construction costs were also a factor in delaying the project.