Editorial: Fighting heat with heat?

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons has been a hot topic since he was sworn in just moments after the new year began.

He has taken heat over the timing of his swearing-in ceremony, his relationship while a congressman to federal contractors in the Reno area, his undisclosed legal defense fund, his lack of knowledge about his own educational proposal and other issues, including his statement that he'd heard a rumor that Democrats were paying The Wall Street Journal to write negative stories about him.

So it was more than a little surprising last week when he did something that was commendable, at least on the surface. On the subject of global warming, he said he was "looking forward to Nevada joining the world in its quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

But was Gibbons serious? Or was he just fighting heat with heat?

How he follows through will be the key. His history on this subject is not a cause for optimism.

While in Congress, Gibbons spoke against the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases that the United States refuses to sign. And last month he failed to show for a meeting that had been arranged for him to hear the views of two global warming experts.

Even his announcement last week, welcome as it was, came with an element of concern. He made the statement while signing an executive order creating the Nevada Climate Change Advisory Committee. This in itself is fine, as many states are forming such committees in earnest response to global warming.

But when Gibbons first announced he would establish this committee in February, it was in lieu of agreeing to a plan by other Western governors to limit carbon emissions. So is the committee part of a stall tactic? Is Gibbons really serious about responding to climate change?

In our view, the committee can be seen for real if it holds its meetings in public and in a reasonable time frame recommends tough and effective greenhouse gas emission targets for Nevada. And Gibbons can be seen as serious if he accepts the recommendations and aggressively pushes for their adoption.