Sun editorial:

Cleaning up the environment

Nevada Legislature should take aggressive action to lure renewable energy companies

Thursday, March 12, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

With Congress and President Barack Obama supporting the development of clean-burning renewable energy resources in a bid to reduce global warming, Nevada is blessed to have an abundance of solar, wind and geothermal options.

One way to lure potential developers of renewable energy to Nevada is for the state to offer tax incentives. But state lawmakers should not get discouraged about the number of jobs created by the industry in Nevada as the result of incentives that have been handed out.

As reported Tuesday by David McGrath Schwartz in the Las Vegas Sun, Nevada has issued $45 million in tax abatements but has received promises of only 89 permanent jobs. Those numbers have caused some lawmakers to question whether taxpayers are getting value from the incentives.

But the Nevada Legislature should look beyond those numbers by recognizing that renewable energy development is a relatively young industry that has produced intense competition among the states. That is why legislators should draft an aggressive plan to attract such development as they debate renewing the 2005 law that established the tax abatements. Lawmakers should research what other states are doing to determine how Nevada can do better.

Legislators also should heed the advice of Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, who told the Sun the state should focus on attracting companies that manufacture solar panels and can work with Nevada’s colleges and universities on research and development of new technologies. Manufacturing would certainly increase the number of permanent jobs tied to renewable energy and could give Nevada a cluster of companies to help elevate its renewable energy profile.

The research activity would also raise Nevada’s profile as an innovator in solar and other alternative energy fields. But lawmakers must be willing to make an increased investment in higher education, which means they need to fight the draconian budget cuts proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

By investing in renewable energy through competitive incentives, Nevada can avoid being left behind in a world whose future rests with clean-burning power.

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By RunningonEmpty

3/12/09 at 6:12 a.m.

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There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent! We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources. Create cheap clean energy, new badly needed green jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. The cost of fuel effects every facet of consumer goods from production to shipping costs. After a brief reprieve gas is inching back up.OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel.If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota.We have so much available to us such as wind and solar. Let's spend some of those bail out billions and get busy harnessing this energy. Create cheap clean energy, badly needed new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. What a win-win situation that would be for our nation at large! There is a really good new book out by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com...
By neiman1

3/12/09 at 7 a.m.

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Tax the business' that are making money but we (someone) don't like and give the money to an industry we hope will work. Hope and change. Change who has the money by taking it away, and Hope it works. If not, too bad. It's an Obamanation to us all.
By jfnance32

3/12/09 at 7:41 a.m.

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The Sun will never run out of ideas to spend taxpayer money and grow the government.

It is...spend...spend...spend...tax...tax..tax..spend...spend..spend..tax...tax..tax.

If there was some idea to spend money to help chickens cross the road then the Sun would the first to write the editorial demanding tax money be raised to fund that project.
By rusty57

3/12/09 at 9:21 a.m.

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Environmentalists: technology naivists who freely and irresponsibly operate with miraculous technologies which have only one defect: they have not yet been invented. But its only taxpayers dollars.
By Future2012

3/12/09 at 9:28 a.m.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the U.S. electric power supply stuck in the past. Even as demand for electricity rises, energy companies are delaying or scrapping plans for new coal-burning power plants because of the prospect of restrictions imposed by federal global warming legislation. To help keep the nation's laptops and TVs humming, dozens of new plants that burn coal -- by far the nation's largest source of electricity -- were in the works. Reid says Coal No, Natural Gas - No, Nuclear - No. Nothing is moving forward.

Power use in the USA is forecast to grow 22% during the next 20 years, according to the Obama Energy Department.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries...

Nevada is spending $500,000 for each temporary job in the renewable industry

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar...

Obama, Reid and Pelosi have given renewable power every opportunity to replace coal and natural gas and they have failed repeatedly.

- They asked for money to be competitive and
Harry Reid gave it to them.

- They asked for their competition to be shut down and Harry Reid did this. Harry says he will tax them out of business with carbon cap and trade on natural gas and coal fired units so they stopped on a dime.

- They wanted fear mongering with global warming and Harry Reid lead the fear. Temperatures have not risen in the last decade but we are afraid of rising seas.

- They want the Feds to overrule States Right's on location of Transmission lines in pristine environmentally sensitive remote locations.

So Sen. Harry Reid announced plans for a bill to speed up the process of transmitting renewable energy from our remote rural areas by shutting out the State permitting process.

In spite of all of this intrusion by Harry Reid there is now still no inertia for renewable energy.

Meanwhile Harry has shut down coal, natural gas, and nuclear power. No major base loaded units are being built in the U.S.

None of the old inefficient coal units can be taken out of service.

Just one more industry for Democrats to Nationalize with the cap and trade money the Feds get.

As we can see from TVA the Feds have not done well trying to run a power utility.