Rural Nevada counties have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in income over the past year because of a federal money grab that has yet to be reversed.
When she was a young woman, Peggy Tauber was on top of the world. She loved her job as a secretary, was married, had a child and a beautiful home. Then life threw Peggy a few curve balls. She divorced her husband after seven years. She lost the beautiful home, the comfortable lifestyle. But she still had a job and her daughter. At least until the Great Recession.
Nevada could finally make some money off the dozens of giant solar arrays and wind farms planned for its deserts and mountain peaks if legislation introduced by Rep. Dean Heller and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid passes.
NV Energy came in dead last in customer satisfaction in the annual J.D. Power and Associates Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study for large utilities in the western United States.
Congressman Dean Heller and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today introduced legislation that would extend royalties and lease income from solar and wind projects to home states and counties. "This bill will ensure the legacy of renewable energy development in Nevada and across the west," Heller said.
Nevada has some of the highest ultraviolet radiation levels in the nation but with careful steps, Las Vegans can avoid the worst impacts of exposure to the sun, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In the 1950s, the Nevada Test Site provided the evidence that U.S. nuclear capability was far ahead of the rest of the world’s. The federal reservation 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas is now tasked with making the nation the global leader in solar power.
Nevada took another step on Thursday toward becoming a world leader in the solar energy field. The state will be home to the nation’s first solar research testing ground, planned for the Nevada Test Site.
