Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Jon Ralston on the latest twist in Nevada’s coal debate

At first glance, it reads like propaganda from Nevada Power or its parent, Sierra Pacific Resources.

"Keep Nevada's Lights on with Clean Coal," declares the newspaper ad that ran north, south and in rural Nevada last weekend. The copy contains fun facts about coal - it produces half our electricity, use has tripled over the past 30 years, dozens of new plants are being built with "superior technologies." And the power company's PR department could have penned this: "Nevadans need all forms of energy to meet our needs, and clean coal can help carry the load. Let's get smart about our energy choices."

It looks like Nevada's utility giant and sounds like Nevada's utility giant. But it is not - in fact the folks funding this ad (and a similar one a couple of weeks ago) make Sierra Pacific Resources look like a Lilliputian. These ads are paid for by Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal company , which is now laying down a marker in Nevada and taking on the most powerful Democrat in the country on his home turf, where he has vowed to block three coal plants.

The front group is called "Nevadans for Affordable Energy," which is one of those innocuous names that indicates these folks represent all of us. Who isn't for affordable energy? (The ad can be found at www.vegaspundit.typepad.com.)

The ad, placed by international communications behemoth Fleishman-Hilliard, lists some of the members, including several northern and rural GOP legislators, rural county elected officials who support those coal plants Sen. Harry Reid opposes, a couple of unions and a couple of party leaders whose titles were not listed but who were obviously chosen because of them - state Republican Chairwoman Sue Lowden and Clark County Democratic Chairman John Hunt.

Lowden's appearance is noteworthy because her name appeared in the ad on the same weekend she was leading a party meeting that produced a resolution similar to the coal-sponsored ad. "All Nevadans rely on a healthy economy, a balanced energy portfolio and affordable rates on their utility bills," Lowden declared in a release sent out by the GOP.

Interestingly enough, the consultants hired by Fleishman-Hilliard to help make our energy more affordable - be sure to thank them if you see them - are Robert Uithoven and Jim and Dani Denton, who have in common that they have been confidants of Gov. Jim Gibbons. And you may recall that Gibbons is a supporter of the rural power plants, and his administration blocked environmentalists' attempts to scuttle them.

You have to admire the vertical integration of policy - coalophilia - and party in the GOP - the state chairwoman, the governor and his consultants (Uithoven also does work for the GOP and probably had a hand in Lowden's statement).

On the other side, the lack of homogeneity is made obvious by Hunt's signing onto the coal-financed ad - a move that surely infuriated Reid. It also seems fairly ridiculous for a major party official to take a public position at odds with the titular head's crusade.

Hunt said he has "the utmost respect" for Reid, but "I'm looking at it from a democratic perspective - what is in the best interests of Nevadans as a whole?"

Hunt asserted that he did not know who was financing the group but, sounding much like Sierra Pacific Resources or Peabody Energy, said one newer plant could help close three older plants, thus reducing emissions. How does he know that? He has a position paper. Who sent it to him? He wouldn't say.

As for Reid, he had a predictable public reaction to the ad campaign. "Knowing that eight out of 10 Nevadans support the development of renewable energy, it's not a surprise that the coal industry is trying to buy support," he said in a statement after a request for comment. The statement went on to say Reid is "confident" that as Nevadans learn more, they "will reject coal, and the pollutants that come with it, as a primary energy source."

Or will they?

Dani Denton pointed out that the signatories to the ad are "labor and business, Democrat and Republican, rural and urban. It is diverse and bipartisan."

Coal: The great unifier.

Hard to call it a partisan issue now, although thanks to Lowden, it appears as if the industry owns the GOP and thanks to Hunt it looks as if the Democrats are badly divided on the issue. And this, you can be sure, is only the beginning of this campaign.

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