Opponents to Nevada Power Co.'s planned $3 billion coal-fired power plant at Ely are starting to emerge following a late Friday filing by Nevada Power Co. to seek approval of the project.

MGM Mirage, one of Nevada Power's biggest customers, on Monday filed a request to participate in the hearings.

An executive with LS Power, an independent power producer, wants state regulators to consider having Nevada Power buy electricity from its own proposed project at Ely, rather than taking the risk of building a utility-owned power plant.

LS Power has not decided whether to ask to participate in utilities commission hearings on the resource plan.

At least one environmental group also is expected to seek approval to participate in the hearings in order to raise issues about potential pollution from the power plant.

The sheer size of the Ely project alone makes it a magnet for controversy.

Under commission rules, the two electric companies could get approval to earn an additional $150 million yearly in profit on the power plant if the regulatory body determines that the Ely Energy Center is a critical facility.

Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power would share the costs of the plants and electricity it produces, although only Nevada Power was required to file a resource plan on Friday. It outlined plans for the plant.

If the Public Utilities Commission approves the Ely Energy Center, the utility will be allowed to raise rates to recover the costs. And if the utility is allowed to recoup its costs in one rate case, the project could result in the largest electric rate case in Nevada history, said Eric Witkoski, chief of the attorney general's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Witkoski has not decided what position his bureau will take on the Ely Energy Center.

Utility executives say they need the proposed coal-fired power plant to provide relatively low cost power, reduce the companies' reliance on high-priced natural gas to generate power and to meet demands from the growing populations in Las Vegas and Reno.

On the other hand, LS Power, an independent power company, has competing plans for a 1,600-megawatt coal-fired plant at Ely. Mike Liebelson, a partner with LS Power, said his company's project will cost much less than the utilities' and will pose less risk to the utilities and their customers.

LS Power is three years ahead of the Nevada utilities in seeking needed environmental permits, water rights and rights of way for a transmission line to the Ely area, Liebelson said.

Over those three years, customers of Nevada Power would save $600 million by getting power from a coal-fired plant, rather than a gas-fired plant, based on the utility's estimate of cost differences, Liebelson said.

The utilities commission should consider the risk of the utility project as well as the cost, Liebelson said.

His company bears the risks of getting its plant built on time and under budget, but Nevada Power customers will pay for added costs if the utilities' project runs into trouble, he said.

Executives with Nevada Power said bond rating agencies would treat a long-term power supply contract with LS Power as a debt, although the utilities could count both debt and equity on their financial statements if they built a power plant.

Liebelson said he disagreed with their conclusion about a long-term contract being considered debt.

As an alternative, LS Power would consider allowing the Nevada utilities to join as partners in their project, Liebelson said.

Both LS Power and the utilities' projects call for a transmission line that would provide the first direct link between Nevada Power in Las Vegas and Sierra Pacific Power in Reno.

Nevada Power also proposes to build a $400 million, 600-megawatt gas-fired power plant at Clark Station in east Las Vegas.