Vol. 5, No. 3
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December 1, 2007
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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Analysis
Western Governors
Minus NV's Meet
California, Utah, Montana,
But No Nevada For Clean Air
by Johnny Gunn
Saying that Congress has been too slow in response to climate change and slowing of greenhouse gasses, governors of many states are grouping based on their relative geographic locations to fight for clean air and clean energy. In the west, Nevada's Governor Jim Gibbons is a no-show while California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, Utah's Jon Huntsman, and Montana's Brian Schweitzer have not only formed a coalition they are mounting a television campaign as well in an effort to prod Congress to act. This isn't political in nature since Schwarzenegger and Huntsman are Republican and Schweitzer is a Democrat.
An advocacy group known as Environmental Defense, http://www.environmentaldefense.org is behind the television ad campaign, but the governors are acting in conjunction with governors across the country. In the midwest there are nine governors along with the Manitoba, Canada premier that signed an agreement to reduce carbon emissions in their states. There are groups in the northeast and southwest as well. Each of the governor groups has put together regional carbon reduction and energy saving arrangements.
In Nevada, instead of carbon reduction plans, there were plans to build three major coal fired power plants in eastern Nevada, each to have a capacity of 1500 megawatts or more. Those plans are being changed as you read this. In white Pine County, Sierra Pacific Resources (SPR), parent company of Sierra Pacific Power (SPPCo) and Nevada Power announced that they are delaying plans on building a 1500 megawatt plant in Ely.
According to the company, SPR will instead develop plans to build a natural gas plant to serve southern Nevada. This is in direct opposition to everything the company has been saying for the last several years following the energy crisis brought on by Enron and the large spike in natural gas prices. There was no comment from the company about altering its plans for a transmission line from White Pine Country to Las Vegas, tying SPPCo and Nevada Power together for the first time.
The other 1500 megawatt plant, to be built by LS Power, an east coast company is also running into serious difficulties according to the latest information available. Costs have doubled or more and the company gives the impression they may change their minds as well. BLM environmental reports are lagging and the company may not be in an economic position to continue. LS Power was to be a partner with Nevada Wind on a wind farm being developed in the eastern Nevada county, but they have pulled out of that agreement as well. At this time, the Sithe Power Company's proposed 1500 megawatt plant in Lincoln County is still in the basic planning stages.
Coal is the single largest polluting influence on the world's atmosphere by man. The only influence larger than man's coal fired energy plants is nature's volcano production. Second to coal is the influence from gas and diesel engines in automobiles and other vehicles around the world. Most scientists have come to the conclusion that high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are responsible for what is being called climate change. Coal and other fossil fuels release millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned.
There are several pieces of legislation moving through Congress at this time, one called the Lieberman-Warner bill would cap emissions at 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. That bill is before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee headed up by California Senator Barbara Boxer (D). The bill could be heard in committee beginning on December 6.
Speaking before the House Committee on the Budget, Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orzog made these points:
The risk of potentially catastrophic damage from climate change can justify taking action to reduce that risk in much the same way that the hazards we all face as individuals motivate us to buy insurance. Some of society’s resources may best be devoted to addressing climate change even if the most severe risks ultimately do not materialize.
Although both a tax on emissions and a cap-and-trade system use the power of markets to achieve their desired results, a tax is generally the more efficient approach. The efficiency of a cap-and-trade program can be enhanced, however, through various design mechanisms, such as a “safety valve” that would allow additional emission allowances to be sold when the price of an allowance exceeded a specified level.
The Lieberman bill is more of a cap-and-trade bill than a tax bill and will allow polluting industries to trade emissions credits to meet the goals. Environmental Defense president Fred Krupp in testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works said, "There is no more important legislation that this committee will ever consider than comprehensive climate change policy."
Where is Nevada? The question continues to be asked by those involved in alternative energy, environmental protection, and those working to wean the country from fossil fuel excesses. Nevada joins Idaho and Wyoming as the only western states that are not a signatory to the Western Climate Initiative. Wyoming is one of the largest coal producing states in the nation and Idaho and Nevada are looking to continue building coal fired energy plants.
In what is pure government double talk, a representative of the Nevada Department of Conservation, Allen Biaggi, said the governor wants to be sure the direction we go makes sense for Nevada. Gibbons created a 12-member climate change committee in April, but according to plans that have been discussed publicly, the group won't make any statements before late next spring. At the time of the appointment, Gibbons was very pro alternative energy when he said, “With this announcement I am looking forward to Nevada joining the world in its quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We live in a global society and Nevada has to be a responsible member of this society. Furthermore, with its abundance of renewable energy resources, Nevada can leverage these resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by investing in its renewable energy industries, thus promoting economic growth and energy security while maintaining and enhancing the environment for future generations of Nevadans.” It appears to many that the governor has changed his position, but there have been no comments from Carson City over the renewable resources plans of this administration in months.
It was noted recently that Nevada could produce more than enough energy through renewable sources to take care of current needs and to satisfy the demands from planned growth. The Nevada Clean Energy Campaign, made up of many conservation type groups, released a report that found no need for building coal fired power plants in Nevada, that renewable resources such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy production would fill the needs of the state and be economically attractive.
At a mid-November meeting of the United Nations Inter governmental panel on Climate Change (IGPCC) in Asia, it was said, "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level." One must also take into consideration that regular atmospheric history only goes back to 1850. The report also states that some numbers used in the report may be as much as 90 percent uncertain. It is for this reason that many are unwilling to accept the concept of global warming or climate change. Coupled with so many crying wolf at the slightest hot day, and giving indications that the west coast will disappear because of high seas within days, a level of truthfulness is missing in much of the debate.
Many scientists that are studying atmospheric changes accept that atmospheric and weather changes are taking place but that catastrophic change is not what is expected. Long, maybe 100 years long, changes will take place if we continue to add millions of tons of carbon dioxide to the air. Humans have a capacity to change with atmospheric and weather conditions, after all there were humans on the planet during the last ice age, and many believe humans will find a way to live in a very warm world.
The fact that farming, ranching, fishing, and fowling will be vastly different if we don't make some changes is what needs to be addressed without the clamor of immediate disaster. As mentioned in the beginning of this report, one of the best insurance policies against radical climate change is renewable resources, reducing and eventually eliminating fossil fuels, and bringing the atmosphere back under control. It's taken since the invention of the steam engine to get us to this point; it will take that long to bring us back into parity with Big Mama Nature.
New sources announced
Wind farms are coming more into the news in Nevada to join the already successful solar and geothermal activities. A 200 megawatt wind farm is being discussed along the border of Idaho and Nevada near Jackpot. A British company, the RES Group of Companies is looking to partner with Sierra Pacific Power Company to build the plant.
Another wind farm is currently in the planning stages north of Pioche in Lincoln County, and there is discussion underway for a wind farm to be built east of Tonopah in Nye County. As with geothermal, the primary problem facing those that wish to get into the wind business is a lack of transmission lines. A wind farm at the end of a transmission line is more of a liability since the farm will not be producing 24-7. When a wind farm can connect to an existing transmission line, then when the wind is blowing they are adding capacity and not taking any away when the conditions are calm.
The federal Department of Energy (DOE) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been attempting to fill in the blanks with what are being called energy corridors running through many states in the west but are finding obstructions from those most wanting increases in renewable energy sources. Conservationists are up in arms over plans to run the corridors through ecologically sensitive land such as national recreations sites and wildlife refuges. Many of the transmission line corridors are up to half a mile wide and the project includes about 6,000 miles of infrastructure.
Solar energy systems are being announced with regularity recently, and there is the possibility that one may be built on the Tonopah Airport property. Tonopah airport was a bomber base during WW II, and bomber and fighter pilot training took place. Besides the large amount of land that might be available on the airport property, the facility is ringed with thousands of acres of BLM controlled land. A recent study by the DOE indicated that inside a 100 square mile area of southern and central Nevada, a solar array could be built that would satisfy the needs of the entire nation.
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