OSHA investigating at solar energy project in Nevada’s Nye County

By Daria Sokolova Pahrump Valley Times

7 years ago

Special to the Pahrump Valley Times Photo taken by Timothy Stiver on April 13 shows salt oozing out of hot salt tank at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant.On Sept. 22, Joseph Long, plant manager at PIC Group, Inc., a contractor at Crescent Dunes, sent out an email asking workers at the plant not to erase any project documentation associated with the hot salt tank. Those materials may include any emails, correspondence, documents, reports, notes, photographs, records, statements, etc. in connection with the molten salt tank and gas issues, according to an email.

David Jacobs/Pahrump Valley Times The SolarReserve Crescent Dunes plant sign as seen in an October 2016 photo. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Nevada reports that an open investigation is underway there.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Nevada is investigating the Crescent Dunes solar energy project near Tonopah, officials confirmed.

Jeff Lankford, chief administrative officer for the Nevada OSHA, said the investigation was started because of the complaint by an employee that was filed with OSHA.

Lankford declined to provide the name of the employee and the nature of the complaint.

“The investigation is active at the Crescent Dunes facility,” Lankford said in a phone interview.

Lankford declined to provide any other details on the investigation saying that state law doesn’t allow him to comment on an ongoing case.

“Nevada OSHA is tasked with investigating employees’ complaints at any business where employee-employer relationship exists, and it wouldn’t be unusual for us to go to any business in the state on an employee complaint,” Lankford said.

Chris Davis, district manager for Northern Nevada OSHA, also confirmed that there’s an open investigation, but refused to provide any additional details.

“It’s an open investigation and that’s all I can tell you,” Davis told a Pahrump Valley Times reporter.

The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a brainchild of Santa Monica, California-based SolarReserve.

Mary Grikas, spokeswoman for SolarReserve, said OSHA has completed two inspections in the last 30 days, and the project was found to be in compliance with OSHA standards and received no violations.

“We have not been informed of any new complaints or OSHA cases in the last 60 days,” Grikas said.

Two weeks earlier, the Pahrump Valley Times published a story about a Las Vegas law firm launching an investigation into allegations of employees’ gas exposure at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project.

Timothy Stiver, a former mechanical supervisor at Cobra, a Madrid, Spain-based contractor for Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, alleged that he and a group of other workers were hospitalized after inhaling the gas emitted from the hot salt tank.

The Crescent Dunes project was supported by a $737 million federal loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2011.

The facility was recently offline for more than eight months because of a salt leak at the hot salt tank.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77