Energy bill includes geothermal incentives

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 | 9:26 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House-approved energy bill Tuesday includes geothermal incentives that may benefit Nevada but the bill also includes a push for nuclear power, which Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. opposed.

The report included provisions from Republican Nevada Rep. Jim Gibbons' geothermal energy bill introduced earlier this year to increase resource production on federal lands. The report also includes a 1.8-cents-per-kilowatt hour tax credit for new geothermal facilities during the first five years of operation.

"Geothermal energy is a clean and reliable source of energy that is completely underutilized," Gibbons said in a prepared statement. "Nevada is a hotbed of geothermal energy. This energy package will enable us to tap into that natural resource, help offset the demand for fossil fuels, and encourage investment in geothermal energy production."

Nevada has about 520,000 acres of public land leased for geothermal use, according to the Bureau of Land Management, and is one of the top states for more production potential.

Despite the geothermal incentives, Berkley said she could not vote for the bill since it provides benefits for nuclear energy even though there is "no safe way to ship and no safe way to store nuclear waste."

"Whatever good provisions there are in this bill are buried under billions of dollars in subsidies for the nuclear industry," Berkley said. "I am appalled that we would spend one cent more to promote nuclear energy when the only answer to the problem of nuclear waste is to bury it in Nevada."

Berkley said even if the proposed nuclear waste storage site planned to hold 77,000 tons of spent fuel at Yucca Mountain were built according to the Energy Department's plan, it could not hold any more nuclear waste.