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Published Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008 | 5:50 p.m.
Updated Monday, Nov. 17, 2008 | 1:49 p.m.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid laid out plans to stimulate the national renewable energy industry during the opening of this week's Renewable Energy World Conference in Las Vegas.
Reid's told hundreds of industry professionals that his goals include: allowing consumers to choose to buy green power and install solar power in their homes and businesses at a fair cost; making public lands available for renewable energy development; encouraging utilities to invest by providing tax incentives; and building a smart power grid that would charge electric vehicles.
During an interview with the Sun Tuesday, the Nevada Democrat said renewable energy development would not only help meet Nevada's growing power needs, but also create jobs in the state.
"That's why the power company focusing on this coal thing is so shortsighted," Reid said, referring to the plan by Nevada Power's parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources, to plan to build new coal-fired plants in the state.
"There are more jobs to be created in the green field than in the old standard fields," said Reid, adding that the coal industry passes out fliers wherever he goes pointing out the senator's opposition to coal and accusing him of wanting to raise utility rates. "But actually, it's just the opposite."
He accused the coal industry of using "the old Hitler lie — when you say things long enough people start believing them."
The comparison of the coal industry to Nazis came before his keynote speech, which began and ended with references to "the Jewish sages of yesteryear."
Reid also said that because more than 85 percent of land in Nevada is controlled by the federal government the state could play an important role in the country's renewable energy future if the process of locating clean energy plants on federal land is streamlined.
He said the first fight, though, is to get one more Republican senator to support the renewal of federal tax credits for renewable energy producers.
"We've got 59 (votes). We need 60. We have only eight Republicans to help us. We need one more," Reid said, adding that he would like to see the tax credits extended.
Industry insiders have agreed with Reid that stable tax policy allows developers to more easily borrow money to fund their multi-million dollar projects.
Citing the Bible, and Nazi Germany as a metaphor, in the same speech is mind-numbing. No further comment on that.
Working to reserve tracts of federal land for renewable projects is almost as equally mind-numbing. On one hand, he has been key and instrumental in setting aside public land in the form of Wilderness Areas, National Conservation Areas and other land designations of the National Landscape Conservation System - hurray for Harry! Nevada has some beautiful landscape where I enjoy hiking, exploring, camping and watching wildlife throughout the state. Many others I know enjoy hunting and fishing as well as other forms of recreation and land enjoyment.
Many hard-working folks within the state continue to work hard in selecting and proposing new land designations of the NLCS, which will need Reid's support and help. Ironically, many of the best wind resource areas - along with some solar and geothermal resource areas - are forever off-limits due to the areas already designated on BLM land under the NCLS and prohibited from development by BLM's Wind Energy Development Policy.
Reid wants to continue designating NCLS lands to preserve in perpetuity, and rightly so for all our benefit, but he also wants to set aside significant tracts of federal land for renewable energy. While seemingly contradictory, it will be interesting to see how he proposes to balance this out. While I would agree a strong push for renewable energy development is beneficial, it's difficult to see how it can be done in this vein. Commercial scale solar projects would wipe out thousands of acres of desert tortoise habitat in Southern Nevada. Solar thermal technologies are not "clean" - some will use large amounts of water (not just for boiling but also for mirror washing, dust control and cooling), some will have back-up natural gas-fired turbines (spews GHGs), some will be unsightly (think numerous power towers over 400' tall each blazing with reflected sunlight) and ALL would require significant acreages of land completely cleared and covered with bright, shiny reflective mirror surfaces. While the resource is free and clean, harnessing it and getting it to commercial markets will not be exactly so.
Sen. Reid is right on. End the tax incentives for the oil and coal industries and give them to green energy producers.
Short-sighted republicans in this State need to wake up. This would lead to a huge boom in our economy. It would bring in an educated workforce and hopefully would spur our own higher education system to develop the workers to meet the green energy companies needs. I would like our State to be known for something more than just mining and gaming. We could add energy to that list! Imagine what our State could be in a few short years if we properly help these businesses develop here and now.
It’s funny how someone like Reid who is touting the need for renewable energy as the single solution to fight Global Warming would accuse to the coal and power industries of using the “old Hitler lie” as means of putting them in the same category as Hitler. Hitler bad, coal bad! Green energy, good!
The fact is, the “old Hitler lie” (aka, The Big Lie) refers to the theory that if you tell a lie so big that it couldn’t possibly be true, people will actually believe it because, as the theory goes, no one would make up such a colossal lie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie
I’m not here to debate the actual existence of Global Warming. However, the theory of the Big Lie certainly does apply to Global Warming. If enough people tell the same lie long enough and with enough conviction, the lie becomes the truth. Wouldn’t you agree that this could apply to Global Warming? There seem to be enough scientist that disagree with the findings that support the existence of Global Warming that the “old Hitler lie” certainly could apply!
If you read the full transcript of Reid’s speech, you’d believe that the power companies are in some huge conspiracy to use coal as a source of energy because of some evil underlying motive. The fact is; it is a business decision. If there were ANY truth to the numbers that Reid quoted in his speech, the power companies would be the first to build renewable energy generating plants. The key is to balance our resources to ensure the reliability of the energy supply. Everyone knows that to mitigate risk, you diversify your investment. Putting all of our eggs in the renewable energy basket isn’t good business.
Not sure why Reid’s got his nose so far up Al Gore’s butt. Just a few years ago Reid thought the new coal plants were just what Nevada needed. Now he’s draping his poorly based arguments against them in religious rhetoric to stir the emotions of the masses. This only makes getting to the truth that much harder. If Reid had any chance of actually using the facts to support his cause, he wouldn’t need to go to these extremes!
How come Harry doesn't talk about the gallons and gallons of oil pumped into the ground by the binary geothermal process? Is that clean and green? Maybe that's part of the Fallon leukemia issue?
Do we actually have some one on here denying global warming? Wow. Sounds like we need some incentives for more education too.
Mr. Ried is showing how truly out of touch he is with Nevada and it's communities. Global warming is a great lie. This is a tool for socialists to control others. These plants would staff 200 jobs paying over $25 per hour and bring in large amounts of vendors and contractors to help boost those poor people's economy. Las Vegas gets part of it's energy from a coal plant not more than 50 miles away, has this hurt anyone or the enviroment in southern Nevada?
reid is just an idiot, how this state continues to elect him is beyond me. the man is an embarassment to the state and the human race for that matter. down with Pinky!
global warming (aka gore baloney), I have to take back some of the thoughts I had about GOD, he dislikes Harry Reid so I guess he isn't all that bad...:-)As for Bitchincamaro, incentives for education, (you mean government mind reprogramming?) Educated people realize what a true lie gore baloney really is. Those who are easily manipulated by media, liberal educators and the "hitler lie" as described by an earlier poster, are unable to think for themselves and see the truth about global warming. It is a natural cycle.
My take on Hermann Goebbels is the finger is pointing the wrong way. We have a bunch of out of control liberal in this country. Equating the coal industry to Hitlerian propaganda is the pot calling the kettle black.
Harry is a dolt and people that continue to place this weasel in office need to have their voter registration cards revoked..