Nevada to get $215 million for energy, water projects

Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

Nevada received about $215 million in energy and water projects tucked inside a Senate budget package approved by a joint congressional conference committee on Thursday.

That total includes Department of Energy funds for nuclear testing readiness, alternative fuel projects and water quality funds, but does not include other funding for studies at Yucca Mountain, a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The budget now goes to the full Senate where the bill is expected to pass. However, President Clinton threatens to veto it because the measure blocks administration efforts to allow the Missouri River's level to rise in the spring, protecting endangered fish and birds.

More than $92 million of the funding came in special requests from Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., compared to $56 million in earmarked funding for 2000. "It's almost twice as much as we got last year," Reid said.

In addition, DOE's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal project got $391 million, $37 million below the White House budget request. Last year the DOE received $351 million for Yucca. The DOE will not receive $3,000 to advertise for tours of the mountain, after Reid moved to cut those funds.

The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, a state office overseeing DOE's work at Yucca Mountain, had $2.5 million in DOE money restored after Congress cut the state's annual share in $5 million amid accusations of misuse of the monies for lobbying.

Local governments will share $6 million in Yucca Mountain oversight as well.

Solar and renewable power projects in Southern Nevada received more than $16 million.

Those projects include $2 million for the Geopowering the West, a solar and wind research program; $3.3 million for photovoltaic energy research at the One Million Solar Roofs Initiative; $4 million for biomass-biofuels power, a waste treatment project at the Nevada Test Site; $1 million for UNLV to begin building a one-megawatt Stirling solar dish; $2 million for hydrogen research to develop underground mining locomotives and earth movers using hydrogen-powered fuel cells. This project will use in-state mines identified by the Nevada Mining Association and with the cooperation of Nevada Test Site Development Corp.

The DOE also received $900,000 for experiments with hybrid power demonstration vehicles to ferry workers back and forth to the Test Site; $2 million for a hybrid system to produce electricity and hydrogen from wind turbines, storing the hydrogen as fuel or for conversion to electricity and $1 million for the National Center for Indoor Air Quality.

UNLV also received $3 million, part of a $35 million national project to research advanced accelerators to transform highly radioactive waste into less harmful forms.

The University of Nevada Medical School at University Medical Center got $900,000 for a linear accelerator.

Southern Nevada water quality research and flood control projects also received monies.

The Army Corps of Engineers will continue flood control work on Tropicana and Flamingo washes with $21.6 million and another $500,000 for water quality studies in Las Vegas Bay.

The Bureau of Reclamation will get $1.5 million for environmental restoration of the Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead in a joint effort with UNLV, city of Henderson and the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

The bureau also got $500,000 for planning, designing and building wastewater recycling units as part of the Southern Nevada Water Recycling Project. Recycled water can be used to irrigate golf courses and highway medians.

The Mesquite water infrastructure project received $1 million through the bureau's budget.