Conway council approves ordinance to consolidate development rights at White Bluff; generators to run on natural gas

The Conway City Council on Monday approved ordinance O25-34, authorizing the city to execute several agreements related to its ownership interest in the White Bluff Steam Electric Station and related interconnection rights. The ordinance passed 8-0 with an emergency clause.

The ordinance moves Conway and its co‑owners to consolidate interconnection and development rights as White Bluff and the Independence plant transition off coal, and to centralize development rights with Entergy. Brad Carroll, staff member, told the council the resulting replacement generation at those sites would be natural‑gas powered and that joint development provides economies of scale for large base‑load projects.

This matters because both plants are scheduled to cease burning coal—White Bluff in 2028 and Independence in 2030—under terms referenced by Carroll. He said Conway’s ownership interest dates to agreements in the late 1970s and includes interconnection rights that allow co‑owners to build replacement generation at the existing sites, a regulatory and economic advantage over seeking new interconnection at another location.

Carroll said the recommended package of documents followed work with other municipal co‑owners and Arkansas Electric Cooperatives and that the Common Co‑owners board approved the recommendation unanimously earlier the same day. He acknowledged a typographical error in the original packet that listed Conway’s ownership as 1%; the correct interest is 2% and the transcript record was corrected in the meeting.

Council members did not debate the policy in depth during the meeting but voiced support after Carroll’s presentation. Jason Carter, identified at the meeting as the city’s outside attorney, was acknowledged for helping negotiate the documents. Carroll said the consolidated approach reduces the time, cost and uncertainty of interconnecting new generators at a new site and preserves the option to replace retiring coal‑fired capacity with dispatchable, joint base‑load generation.

The ordinance carries an emergency clause and passed by roll call without opposition. Council members voting in the affirmative included Miss Mel; Mister Jones; Mister Hawks; Mister Grimes; Mister Ledbetter; Mister Spergers; Mister Hawkins; and Miss Isby.

Council materials show the consolidation is intended to preserve low‑cost, reliable generation options for the municipal owners as the plants retire from coal. Carroll said the city began focused work on replacement options in 2021 and thanked internal staff Bill Bethea and Aaron Brown and outside counsel Jason Carter for their work.