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Apr. 15, 2008
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Scientist getting state prize lobbies Gibbons

Governor urged to oppose coal-fired power plants

By BRENDAN RILEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARSON CITY -- An internationally known climate scientist who will receive the Nevada Medal today in Reno has challenged Gov. Jim Gibbons on his support for new coal-fired power plants in the state.

In a letter Monday to Gibbons, James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, questioned plans for the plants proposed for eastern Nevada and urged the governor to "come down firmly on the side of clean energy and energy efficiency."

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    • Hansen, getting the state Desert Research Institute's Nevada Medal at an event co-chaired by first lady Dawn Gibbons, said the governor should block permits for the coal-fired plants until there are "concrete plans" for capturing pollutants that contribute to global warming.

    The scientist also said he hoped that Gibbons, a Republican, would base his decision on what's good for the state and the planet rather than on party-line considerations. Gibbons' stance on the power plants has put him at odds with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

    Instead of coal-fired plants that produce carbon dioxide emissions, Hansen said, Nevada could become a leader in solar energy production.

    "There is enough solar energy in a small fraction of our desert Southwest to provide all of the electrical needs of the United States," he said.

    Hansen, a political independent, is no stranger to controversy. In late 2006, he accused the Bush administration of trying to silence him after a speech on global warming.

    Gibbons spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said the governor wants "to set Nevada on a path for energy independence" that includes renewable power sources. But he added that Gibbons sees clean-coal technology as part of that goal.

    Kieckhefer said the coal-fired plant that Sierra Pacific Resources wants to build near Ely would help meet the state's power needs and would help promote new methods of capturing pollutants.

    A cross-state power transmission line that would be part of the Sierra project also would give renewable energy companies in remote areas a way to get their power onto the grid, he added.

    The governor, listed as a co-chairman of the DRI event, won't attend today because he is going to a Republican Governors' Association meeting in Texas, Kieckhefer said.

    Coal plants provide more than half of the nation's electricity. They are the largest domestic source of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, emitting 2 billion tons annually, or about one-third of the country's total.



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    Joe wrote on April 15, 2008 06:37 PM: Instead of coal-fired plants that produce carbon dioxide emissions, Hansen said, Nevada could become a leader in solar energy production.
    I say use wind power, Vegas is a very windy city. Coal fired plants give off too many toxins.


    Ray Walker wrote on April 15, 2008 10:28 AM:

    In about the same amount of time that Lake Mead is predicted to go dry by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego , 1,000,000 acre feet per year from the new non-tributary Source could be accumulated to actually keep Lake Mead FULL ! (Numerous hydroelectric facilities in the region could also be enhanced with water from the new Source.)

    When FULL, the seventeen turbine-generators at the Lake Mead powerhouse generate a maximum of 2,074 megawatts of hydroelectric power. An average megawatt is the energy produced by the continuous operation of one megawatt of capacity over a period of one year (8,760,000 kilowatt-hours). A megawatt is worth $.05 per KW Hr X 8,760,000 = $438,000/year. Lake Mead averages 1840 megawatts = $ 0.81 Billion/year. Present worth of .8 Billion/year @ 3% interest = $ 26 Billion.

    Strange....that the Bureau of Reclamation, Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority cannot investigate a new fresh water Source that when developed will preserve Lake Mead and not damage the water rights of anyone, anywhere or the environment.

    Maybe the Bureau, Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority are waiting until Lake Mead and its 2000 megawatts of power are gone before they consider investigation of the new fresh water Source a worthwhile endeavor for the people they serve...?

    Ray Walker (Retired Water Rights Analyst) waterrdw@yahoo.com


    2zero wrote on April 15, 2008 08:18 AM: Good for Gibbons, that is Dawn....

    As for Jim, please stay in Texas with the rest of the "clean coal" and "pristine petroleum", bought and paid for, so called leaders of this nation in crisis.