Energy
Issues related to energy, especially green energy and subsidies
Ratepayers tapped for a $4.4 million early Christmas gift to City of Las Vegas
Taxpayer money on green projects will return to government ‘in the long-run.’
KYLE GILLIS/NEVADA JOURNAL
NV Energy Senior VP Tony Sanchez (left) presents the $4.4 million check to City Councilman Bob Coffin (right) and Mayor Carolyn Goodman (center)
LAS VEGAS — NV Energy officials presented the City of Las Vegas with a $4.4 million rebate check Tuesday, but it was state ratepayers who were actually funding the check.
So far, $113 million has been paid out for more than 1,300 solar projects across the state under the electricity monopoly’s “SolarGenerations” program, according to spokesman Tony Sanchez.
The program was established under NRS 701B, a mandatory solar-energy incentives law passed by state legislators in 2007, and then amended in 2009. It ...
CA Gov. Brown: market fundamentalism ‘an impediment’
Golden State governor says tax opponents believe taxes are like an STD
LAS VEGAS — California Gov. Jerry Brown referred to anti-tax hike advocates as having a notion “that taxes are like a sexually transmitted disease” during a panel discussion featuring Western state governors at the National Clean Energy Summit.
Brown, who was joined by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, called market fundamentalism “an impediment” toward renewable energy development and said there’s a “paradox” between government spending and budget cuts.
“Green energy is financed by ratepayers and the federal government,” Brown said. “The cumulative bill for infrastructure development is going up all the time and we aren’t keeping up.”
Gregoire echoed Brown’s views on federal government involvement and said ...
Biden cites now-cancelled moon program in renewable energy speech
Vice president echoes Kennedy's ‘moonshot’ speech despite administration phasing out moon program
LAS VEGAS — Vice President Joe Biden cited John F. Kennedy's famous "moon" speech as a reason to invest in renewable energy during his keynote address at the National Clean Energy Summit.
"Clean energy is today's space race," Biden said during his speech. "The march into the future will continue whether or not we participate."
Biden's "space race" reference comes at a time when the Obama administration has called for NASA to shelve all future manned-moon missions as part of his proposed budget cuts.
In addition to citing Kennedy, Biden cited numerous technological advancements such as iPhones and e-readers to encourage further renewable energy development.
Biden's speech followed a ...
NY Times writer: Electric vehicle success ‘depends on government regulations’
Environmental journalist notes government intervention, not the market, key to electric cars
LAS VEGAS — New York Times environmental journalist Jim Motavalli said electric-vehicle marketability depends on "the education of the American people" during a Future of Energy panel presentation at the National Clean Energy Summit.
According to Motavalli, the Obama administration has invested $215 million in electric-vehicle development and has set a goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
"It's an ambitious goal and if that goal is going to succeed, the American people are going to have to recognize the [electric vehicle's] role in our environmental future," said Motavalli.
Regarding electric vehicles' competitiveness in the marketplace, Motavalli said market success would depend on "regulations" and ...
Secretary Chu: "When you swing from the heels, you expect a few strikeouts"
Secretary of Energy plays down private sector, champions government's role in renewable energy
LAS VEGAS — Secretary of Energy Steven Chu used a baseball analogy describing renewable energy investments in Nevada, saying the government has been "investing in singles" instead of "investing in homeruns."
"We [the federal government] want to swing from the heels, and when you swing from the heels, you expect a few strikeouts," Chu said during his keynote address at the fourth annual National Clean Energy Summit.
Chu noted the "millions of investments" in Nevada through President Obama's stimulus bill and Department of Energy grants, and estimated all of the federal investments have created "2,000 jobs in Nevada."
However, data from the State of Nevada's stimulus website contradict's Chu's ...
Reid: 'short-sighted to stop energy revolution'
Majority Leader wants continued subsidies for green energy
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called politicians who want to end federal subsidies for renewable energy "short-sighted" and said they want to "stop [an] energy revolution" during his morning press conference at the National Clean Energy Summit.
"We need to wean ourselves off our dependence of oil and we'd hope our Republican friends would join us in this effort," said Reid.
Both Reid and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu claimed renewable energy prices were dropping "dramatically" and said lawmakers looking to target energy subsidies should focus on oil and coal as opposed to renewables.
"The oil and coal industries have been helped significantly by subsidies so if you want to look for ...
Nevada gets more energy from nuclear than from all heavily subsidized in-state renewables
Federal control of state lands both helping, hindering Nevada’s “green economy”
According to recently updated data from NV Energy, since the stimulus passed in February 2009, imported nuclear energy generated over 328,000 megawatt hours of electricity for Northern and Southern Nevada customers, whereas solar, wind, and biofuel sources combined to produce less than 212,000 megawatt hours.
NV Energy imports nuclear energy from the San Onofre Station in Southern California and the Palo Verde Station in Arizona, despite the political muscle that state political leaders devote to fighting the nuclear ...
Nevada’s green-energy laws will mean higher electricity prices, big job losses, suggest studies
Neighboring states shed harsh light on Silver State’s policy ambitions
While higher unemployment numbers usually gain more attention than higher electricity rates, two new policy studies indicate Nevada's renewable portfolio standards may increase both rates.
Suffolk University's Beacon Hill Institute studied renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in New Mexico and Oregon and projected that, as a result of those standards, both states can expect to lose more than 15,000 jobs and have electricity prices rise by 20 percent.
Since Nevada's electricity rates are the second highest in the West, the studies' authors said Nevada could face a similar economic forecast.
"Most renewables in Nevada and across the country need heavy taxpayer subsidies to survive, because they aren't ...
State laws encourage green energy, discourage efficiency
Energy bills lead to rate increases, create artificial ‘demonstration program’ mandates
Beginning July 1, courtesy of state renewable-energy laws and the state Public Utilities Commission, ratepayers will pay an additional 3.4 percent to subsidize the state energy monopoly, NV Energy.
According to the PUC's approval order, the rate increase reflects NRS 704.785, passed during the 2009 Legislature as SB358. That law gives electric utilities the "opportunity to recover lost revenues associated with energy efficiency and conservation ("EE and C") programs" and further allows the PUC to "implement the lost revenue recovery mechanism."
A ...
Stimulus-funded projects got to jump regulatory line
Congressional ‘help’ delayed private-sector energy projects, costing millions of jobs
Politically sponsored energy projects across the country that were funded with federal "stimulus" dollars also received preferential regulatory treatment over private-sector projects, Nevada Journal has learned.
Not only did the projects receive billions of taxpayer stimulus — "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" — dollars, but Congress mandated that federal regulators also usher the stimulus projects to the front of the regulatory line.
"Project No Project," a recent report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, identified 351 energy projects nationwide that have been stalled due to various causes, including "activism, a broken permitting process and a system that allows limitless challenges by opponents of development."
However, the Chamber report did not address the direct role ...
Wasted potential
Federal government kills thousands of current and future Yucca jobs in favor of underwhelming number of subsidized ‘green’ jobs
For years antinuclear politicians called Yucca Mountain the nation's "nuclear waste dump." Now they've made it into a tax dump.
Nuclear reprocessing at Yucca Mountain, say advocates, could convert highly valuable nuclear byproduct into usable power and bring thousands of permanent jobs to Nevada.
Yet the politicians who've repeatedly derailed that possibility regularly boast of the relatively tiny number of jobs and energy that their tax-subsidized "green" technologies might someday create.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a case in point. He opposes Yucca not only as a nuclear materials storage facility but even as a site for nuclear reprocessing. Yet, he touts stimulus spending on other ...
Who has the power?
Nevada’s ‘aggressive’ renewable energy standards drain ratepayers
It's one thing to set your own goals.
It's quite another to impose your goals on others and enforce those goals through a government-regulated monopoly you control.
That's what Nevada lawmakers have done to NV Energy ratepayers with increasing force for the last 13 years. Their tool of choice has been the "Renewable Portfolio Standard," first imposed on NV Energy, the state-regulated electric utility, in 1997.
And now, as Nevadans struggle to find a way out of a statewide economic depression, they have the added burden of some of the most costly green-energy rules of any state in the country, passed by the 2009 Nevada Legislature.
Those renewable energy quota ...
