By Keith Rogers | LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL | Link to article
With white smoke and dust flowing out its top, the 500-foot-tall concrete smokestack of the Mohave Generation Station crashed to the ground in dramatic fashion at 9 a.m. Friday.
The controlled implosion of the 40-year-old landmark sent up a cloud of dust that caused many of the hundreds of spectators to cover their faces with paper towels and shirt sleeves.
“It was absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” said Carolyn Watts, the wife of a former plant worker who traveled from Orange County, Calif., to observe the implosion along with some 500 spectators.
“I could just feel the concussion. It was so emotional … and an absolutely incredible experience,” she said.
The plant was closed Dec. 31, 2005, when its coal and water supply contracts expired. If new coal and water supply agreements had been achieved, the plant’s co-owners had committed to install $1.2 billion in the latest emission control technology upgrades for post-2005 operations.
