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Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) watches a procession during a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Police Memorial Park Sunday, September 11, 2011.
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | 2 a.m.
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Sen. Dean Heller is taking the road less traveled among GOP candidates: The Nevada Republican says he’s better for clean-energy interests than his chief Democratic rival.
In recent email blasts, Heller’s campaign has ripped Rep. Shelley Berkley, Heller’s likely Democratic opponent come November, for voting against several renewable-energy amendments to the GOP’s energy and infrastructure package. (Most Democrats voted against those amendments, which set aside some requirements for environmental reviews, as well as against the larger package.)
Another email from his campaign said Heller “has long fought to bring a variety of sources of renewable energy to Nevada.”
Heller’s message puts him in contrast with other Republicans, who are distancing themselves from any past support for clean energy and instead are embracing an “all of the above” message that stresses expanded domestic drilling.
Geography has a lot to do with it, some observers say.
“There is bipartisan agreement, like it or not, in Nevada that, hey, it’s sunny here a lot of the time and so we have to do something with renewables,” Sun columnist Jon Ralston said.
Supporting renewable energy is virtually a requirement for Nevada politicians, he added, although that can lead to sticky situations for a Republican.
“Now, of course, that brings us to the question of what does that really mean that you support it? How far do you go with tax credits, tax incentives, before you get called a crony capitalist by the Republicans who love to use Solyndra as their talking point?” Ralston said. “It’s a difficult issue for Heller.”
Heller, who was just months into his third House term when he was appointed to replace Sen. John Ensign in May, led for some time in polling in the Senate race.
But Berkley, a seventh-term Democrat representing Las Vegas, has recently pulled into a statistical tie. A December poll conducted by local media found Berkley with a thin lead over Heller, 44.4 percent to 43.2 percent, well within the margin of error.
A poll out last week, conducted by a GOP firm, found Heller at 47 percent and Berkley at 44 percent, also within the margin of error.
The two are also neck and neck in fundraising, each amassing war chests of around $3.7 million as of the end of 2011.
With the economy as the leading issue in every campaign, Heller and other Republicans who back federal support for renewables have so far couched it as an important part of recovery efforts.
“Renewable-energy development could lead to thousands of new jobs in Nevada at a time when the state leads the nation in unemployment,” Heller campaign spokeswoman Chandler Smith told Politico.
That’s a tack voters will respond to and reward, said Rocky Fernandez, the communications director at the Clean Energy Project, a statewide advocacy group.
“The candidates who want to do things and step up and make these industries thrive in Nevada, they’re the ones who are going to be successful in these upcoming elections,” Fernandez said. “If we don’t do it, other states are going to take it and we’ll have missed a huge opportunity.”
Renewables became a side campaign issue in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 2010 victory over Nevada Tea Party challenger Sharron Angle, who had denounced green jobs as a “scam.”
Heller may be no Sharron Angle, whose campaign was marred by a number of high-profile attacks. But Berkley is trying to make the argument that voters will find Heller hard to the right when it comes to energy.
“Voters aren’t buying appointed Sen. Dean Heller’s election year scramble to paper over his pro-Big Oil, abysmal record on renewable-energy jobs,” Berkley campaign spokesman Eric Koch said. “Instead of making clean-energy job creation in Nevada a priority, Heller has spent his Washington career voting to protect taxpayer giveaways to Big Oil companies already making record profits.”
Berkley’s campaign has a stockpile of ammo countering Heller’s claim to be a leader in clean energy, from votes in Congress against certain renewable-energy and energy-efficiency measures to a 2008 letter questioning the cost-effectiveness of alternative sources of energy.
Besides aligning with the Democratic Party on most issues, Berkley supported a 235-mile transmission line to carry power from renewable-energy projects and was a vocal supporter of the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program, especially its support of a geothermal project in Nevada.
Last week, she introduced a bill seeking to revive a popular tax credit from the 2009 stimulus for clean-energy manufacturers.
Heller is hitting back, touting pieces of legislation he has sponsored — often with Reid — and calling for a nationwide version of Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard.
Both campaigns have enough firepower and money to enter into an extended battle over renewable energy. Both also have the motivation to take the brawl into high gear given that Democrats are eyeing the seat as a potential pickup.
So it comes down to Nevada voters, who face the choice of two candidates attempting to claim the mantle of renewable energy.
This proves that Heller is his own person and makes his own decisions which I really appreciate. The problem with Berkley is that she takes her marching orders from Obama and her fellow Democrats. Obama has failed the State of Nevada miserably. Lots of unemployment and no real energy policy by the Obama administration. I am sure that Berkley is a nice lady but we need leadership from our senators and we will get that from Heller.
Obama energy policy:
1) Buy a Volt
If you can't afford a Volt
2) Check your tire pressure
Global warming is the next bubble to break in much the same way housing and education did.
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles...
It's not rocket science folks, years and years of Berkley and Reid have gotten us where we are today, getting the living daylights kick out of us by Wall Street enemies of Reid's, face the music. Anything renewable is good however housing is still the biggest dilemma for Nevada.
Despite best intentions,renewables have only proved that they cost a lot of money and have a high rate of failure.
Heller> "Renewable-energy development could lead to thousands of new jobs in Nevada. . ." Development meaning construction jobs not energy that will lower every ones power bill. Contrary to the belief that if we build them they will work and lower power rates for all users?
Nevada Energy recent rate hikes penalized consumers in part because power users reduced their consumption and NV Energy lost revenue.
The current"Renewable-energy development will raise all energy consumer monthly power bills while providing increased NV Energy and County taxes(transmission lines)guaranteed profits.
Manufacturing jobs that actually produce a product here in the U.S. are far more beneficial than crony capitalism schemes that benefit a few at the expense of all. . .
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/...
Solar will eventually become more cost effective than Oil. With the current estimated Federal Expense of Eight Dollars Per Gallon to provide our Military as the Ultimate Security Agents to keep the Oil Companies product flowing through the Gulf unimpeded, we may have passed that point a long time ago. Should we use that money on the Military or alternative fuels. After all, the cost of five modern fighter jets would provide IPads to all First Graders in the U.S.
How is Heller's wanting to bypass environmental regulations a departure from his party? Have you been living on Planet Earth for the past 30 years?
It's incredible to me that I can light up my entire back yard night after night with solar lights that I paid $20 for and yet people will insist that melted dinosaurs are a better alternative to the sun???
We live in the desert for crying out loud. Until the oil companies get their money and their lobbyists out of politics we'll all be held hostage by them.
Wind, water and sunglight can be found just about anywhere respectively but we continue to drill into the earth in the hopes we'll find prehistoric goo to run technology invented by Victorians in the 19th century. Genius.
he wants solar so his freind Floyd can grow pot without a big power bill.
Now that the former recalcitrant teabagger Heller has to face the ENTIRE ELECTORATE IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF NEVADA, instead of only the district 2 cow county yokels, of course he is shifting to a more centrist/moderate "compassionate conservative" stance. He will not get my vote because, as I've posted before, NOBODY WHO PLEDGES ALLEGIANCE TO GROVER NORQUIST will EVER get my vote.
Funny how more drilling has lowered the price of natural gas to a ten year low. It should replace any mention of wind for the next 50 years at least.
Any realistic view of the future of Nevada includes the currently absent product known generally today as 'apps.'
As the worldwide solar panel production continues its rising pace as it has for the last few years and as the price for these 'Sunlight to Electricity' electron machines drops even more, then what Las Vegas can do with them will be pretty much up to Las Vegans to apply.
In our case, the path seems self-evident:
1) Find well-LOCATED properties in a price range that we can address for upgrades;
2) Retrofit energy efficiency with aid from a blower door, infra-red camera and duct blaster to achieve a very low consuming shell;
3) Install Energy Recovery Ventilation to ensure healthy fresh air;
4) Replace HVAC with a high-SEER(20-26)Mini-Split heat pump with zonal controls;
5)Upgrade all the lighting to LED and appliances to Energy Star;
6) Improve shade and zeriscape, improve curb appeal - (paint and plant)...and TAA DAA
7) Turn it over to the VERY HAPPY new owners whose power bill takes a vacation.
Now this app is merely a simple series of tiny moves that alter the landscape significantly for years to come by accepting the facts: We live in solar heaven; access has enabled the actual applications; contemporary building science empowers significant reductions in usage; and the wealth of unemployed construction workers can easily drive an upsurge in the Solar remodel that leaves this valley shining into the future, not just as an anomaly, but more as a training ground for crews to become capable of performing these tasks with the consummate result of something we do not currently own - a Product the world needs and is willing to pay for.
Las Vegas is becoming our source for well-trained and skilled workers to perform this kind of transformational makeover that yields excellent profits, today tomorrow and forever.
Dean Heller's shift from most Republicans in this affection for free energy sources shows both his recognition of the issues and also his need to separate himself from the pack.
Funny how Sun and Wind, pending doom and shifting currencies can impact a local race, huh?
As Rusty has pointed out, the impacts of competition within the energy resource wars usually result in lower rates for all of us. Imagine the impact of most of the valley unplugging from our good friends at NVEnergy!
http://www.examiner.com/green-building-i...
http://www.examiner.com/green-building-i...
http://www.examiner.com/green-building-i...
http://www.examiner.com/green-building-i...
A quick review of the impacts of DUMPING energy in our own history shows that the gas guys wiped out early solar (1800s)- from A Golden Thread.
The trend continues today with rapidly increasing employment of fracking and Ken Lay-styled controlled pricing combining to lower the rates artificially. Solar is here to stay. Not embracing the possibilities is, well, a head in the sand, no?
For another take on this, here's another guy leading GEAR (Green Earth Alliance of Renovators) Remodels.
Anyone who knows buildings, energy and money may APPLY!
http://greenearthequities.com/renovators...
PS...even those with an interest may knock!