Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
A brighter future
Cooperation between state, federal government a key to solar energy growth
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Rep. Dean Heller, a Republican, have introduced legislation that would provide money to Nevada for solar energy plants built on federal land.
Under the bipartisan proposal, the federal government would auction leases for land to be used for solar developments. The companies that win the leases would pay royalties, and some of that money would be given to the home states and counties. Some of the royalty money would go toward conservation efforts, as Stephanie Tavares reported in Saturday’s Las Vegas Sun.
So far, the proposal has received the support of sportsmen’s organizations such as Trout Unlimited, a conservation group that works to protect habitat and watersheds. The plan is a good, practical measure to help Nevada as the solar industry starts to develop here.
Unfortunately, the plan hasn’t received the full support of the Gibbons administration. Jim Groth, the state energy director, said the intention of the legislation is good but it doesn’t go far enough. He argued, as he has in the past, that Nevada has a problem competing against states such as Arizona and New Mexico because the federal government owns the land here.
Groth wants the federal government to grant the state 3 million acres of land in prime solar energy zones. He said that would give the state and counties the ability to handle bids as well as “how wildlife mitigation efforts should be addressed, and all the other land ownership and control issues.”
In an interview this year with Tavares, Groth suggested that the state could get around federal environmental laws if it held ownership — but that simply isn’t the case.
Let’s be clear: The Gibbons administration hasn’t been hobbled by the federal government, nor is land ownership the silver bullet.
It’s also not really about the competition. Neither Arizona nor New Mexico can boast the type of business climate Nevada does.
The real problem is one of leadership. Gov. Jim Gibbons started his administration as a champion of coal-fired power plants and turning coal into gasoline. Now, after those plans failed, Gibbons is trying to make up for lost time, which will be difficult. As the Gibbons administration dithered, other states made a strong push for the renewable energy industry.
If the Gibbons administration wants to blame anyone, it doesn’t have to look far — it bears the responsibility. Even now, instead of working to develop a positive plan to attract renewable energy businesses, it is complaining, and spouting anti-government rhetoric isn’t helping.
Thankfully, while the Gibbons administration was fixated on coal, Reid was working on bringing renewable energy projects here and helped to prepare the state. Gibbons and his staff should be supporting efforts of the state’s congressional delegation regarding the bipartisan renewable energy legislation Reid and Heller are pushing. It’s going to take a cooperative effort to turn Nevada into what it should be: the focus of the nation’s renewable energy industry.
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
- Superstar Whitney Houston dies at 48
- Two dead after accident in downtown Las Vegas
- Instant Analysis: Debating whether UNLV should continue series with San Diego State
- Dining Guide: 2012 Valentine’s Day options in Las Vegas
- Color from the scene at Thomas & Mack Center: We have a wire job! Rebels win, and Louie Armstrong sings!
- UNLV can move forward without the burden of losing streak to San Diego State
- Four people injured in car accident
- Blog: Justin Hawkins’ steal seals UNLV’s thrilling 65-63 victory against San Diego State
- A wife’s wisdom shows birth control issue needn’t be divisive
- UNLV makes key plays down stretch to hold off San Diego State 65-63
Blogs
The Kats Report
Color from scene at Thomas & Mack: We have a wire job! Rebels win, and Louie Armstrong sings!
South Point owner Michael Gaughan's take on 'Vegas Stripped': 'I'll give it an 8' (4 Comments)
Author relishes writing the life story of ‘larger-than-life’ Oscar Goodman (3 Comments)
Elsewhere
Landowner: All roads could lead to Uxbridge casino
Revel reveals smoke-free casino opening
Cirque du Soleil show in Sands China casino to close this month
Meet the woman behind Sheldon Adelson
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Reid keeps selling what HE claims HE has done and the LV Sun is a stooge to replay it. But what is striking about the Editorial is there is nothing acomplished in the above article
////////////////////////
The LV Sun and Jon Ralston on Sunday, July 18, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Declared "Sharron Angle is dead"
An ebullient Jon Ralston wants Harry Reid to "unfurling a "Mission Accomplished" banner in their headquarters"
Jon cites Greg Sargent and Jon believes "This suggests that Reid's scorched-earth strategy of dropping a ton of negative advertising on Angle - in order to rapidly define her as extreme, dangerous and temperamentally unfit for the Senate before her campaign gets under way - may be working,"
Jon further brags "His [Harry Reid's] strategy of driving people away from Angle and into either a "none of the above" posture or a oh-how-it-pains-me-to-vote-for-him stance has worked to perfection.
Jon crows that "Reid will apply a tourniquet to Angle's fundraising"
Jon's last line is 100 day ahead of the election "The [Angle] race is lost."
///////////////////////////////////////////////
So Jon Ralston is PROUD of the way he and the LV SUN have campaigned for and willing Harry Reid to win by ducking the issues and trashing, trashing, trashing his opponent with a $25 million scorched-earth attack.
There has never been a question Jon Ralston mind that anything goes in re-election of his BFF Too Big Too Fail Harry Reid.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Never again will Jon Ralston or the LV Sun have any credibility on "reporting" (LOL) on an issue. They do not believe in issues.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Future - Not One Word Of Truth
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The internalized hatred of Future is so obvious
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Of course Gibbon is anti anything Reid attempts
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The Talibon Party of No is no longer The Republixan Party
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ola
Coal produces energy at night. An energy policy that doesn't include hydrocarbons is economic suicide.
If the federal government had not sucked so much out of the economy, there would be enough for private enterprise to step up and invest in solar energy plants on their own without government involvement.
From the private sector, we could be assured that solar would work and it would work correctly and efficiently. That's because private enterprise has what Obama refers to as the "evil" profit motive. If it's not profitable, they wouldn't build it. Which begs the question, why hasn't private enterprise done solar on their own up until now? Why does it have to be government?
the problem with the bill is that it isn't going anywhere as the air force has big issues with it. nellis plugs $5 billion in the LV economy annually. no way anybody is going to risk that for some solar leases. this bill is doa.
I commend Reid and Heller for this legislation.
Future: Heidi Harris has a weekly "interview" with Angle that is simply an unpaid political advertisement. You might want to join that circle jk instead of posting stupid thoughts.
This legislation is getting a lot of mostly positive attention. It is being compared to similar legislation for geothermo energy.
But...
Just today the Sun ran this story: Feds snatch counties' share of money from geothermal leases
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jul...
It turns out that the monies that were to be given to the local governments was in fact "optional" and at the discretion of Congress. Now, counties that had relied heavily upon those funds in past years have been left high and dry.
Does this solar bill have the same loopholes?
Human caused global climate change is a lie and a fraud. If you want to know the truth just follow the money. There is lots of money to be made in the "green" energy producing industry once they screw the oil and coal companies. They already screwed the cleanest and cheapest form of energy production, the nuclear power industry. Now these "green" types want to be in charge and let the government (the tax payers) take the risks and foot the bill for changing over to "green" energy and then let them make the profits. What a scam.
I have to love how the Sun says Gibbons coal failed when it was Dirty Harry that killed the two plants by Elko a little twist to the facts there. Solar will not be viable on the large scale for another 20 years and will never produce the same amount of power or jobs that coal can. The reserves in Utah and plants in Nevada a perfect duo. lots of power to sell and lots of jobs, sorry they can't be in Vegas with the dying city center.