$107 Billion in Breaks Includes Help for NASCAR, Rum Makers

Congress Approves $700B Bailout Legislation
Congress approves a massive plan to shore up the U.S. financial system, despite a stunning early defeat. The Senate passed the legislation on Wednesday evening, and the House passed the legislation on Friday afternoon.

By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 4, 2008; Page D01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303635.html?hpid=topnews

The House of Representatives yesterday approved $107 billion in tax breaks for businesses and consumers as part of a sweeping financial rescue package designed to stave the credit crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Review and Opinion

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122264832997183967.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

For a while, it was a standard-issue Al Gore jeremiad, with calls for everything from installing solar panels in Darfur (seriously) to legal action against “the carbon lobby” for denying global warming (ditto). But then Mr. Gore really got going and told his disciples to head — literally — to the barricades to “stop” coal.

Speaking last Wednesday on a celebrity panel in New York, the Nobel Prize Laureate proclaimed: “If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.” He added, “clean coal does not exist.”

Read the rest of this entry »

By JOHN G. EDWARDS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

http://www.lvrj.com/business/30462159.html

An independent power developer on Friday moved one step closer toward construction of a giant coal-fired power plant at Ely, but the prospects for the project remain uncertain because of environmental issues.

The Bureau of Land Management released the final environmental impact statement or environmental study for the coal-fired, 1,590-megawatt White Pine Energy Station proposed at a site 35 miles north of Ely near U.S. 93. Read the rest of this entry »

Oct. 03, 2008

Gibbons asks ‘one-stop’ energy shop

Gov. Jim Gibbons urged representatives of the Nevda Rural Electric Association to work together to move electricity around Nevada.

The governor spoke during the NREA conference at the Pahrump Nugget Thursday.

Gibbons said Nevada has a lot of resources for renewable energy like wind, solar, geothermal and biomass resources, but the challenge is building the transmission grid to convey that power. The governor said Nevada spends $2 billion to import power into the state.

Valley Electric Association Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted was appointed recently to a governor’s committee studying transmission capacity. The committee is looking at areas in Nevada where the state can capitalize on renewable energy and then how to get that power into the grid.

“How do we get those very unconveniently located resources into the transmission grid to be able to produce the power and sell it at market? Because right now we’re subject to the variability of the market when we go to power markets to purchase that $2 billion a year,” Gibbons said. Read the rest of this entry »

Burning Dinasaur   has no future!

http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/vigil-stop-sithe-global-gas-coal-plants-100-renewable-energy-now/

VIGIL: STOP SITHE GLOBAL GAS-COAL PLANTS :

100% RENEWABLE ENERGY NOW!

September 4, 2008

VIGIL / INFO PICKET:
WEDNESDAY SEPT 17 AND OCT 1, ‘08
11AM - 12PM - ALL WELCOME!

200 FRONT STREET WEST TORONTO, ONTARIO

Stop Sithe Global Proposed Privatized Multi-billion Dollar Gas- Coal Plants in Ontario and Sithe’s Desert Rock Coal-Fired plants opposed in Navajo -Hopi region, New Mexico and Toquop Sithe’s Coal-Fired Plant in Nevada opposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid etc.

-Sithe are owned by the World’s largest Private Equity Corp BLACKSTONE-

****100% Renewable Energy Now!
A continuation of Vigil/Info-pickets initiated on Earth Day 2007at Queen’s Park and Ontario Power Generation headquarters against Ontario coal-fired plants, gas plants and no nukes!

Continued at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada September to August 31, 2008

Abolition King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons!

http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/stopping-sithe-global-gascoal-and-making-way-for-renewable-energy/

10/2/08 8:06 PM 

Ausra rakes in $60.6 million for solar thermal

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10056019-54.html 

Posted by Elsa Wenzel 

Ausra's pilot solar-thermal power plant in 

Australia. 

CNET News Green Tech 

October 1, 2008 5:21 PM PDT 

Solar thermal equipment maker Ausra raised $60.6 million Wednesday from an international 

group of investors including KERN Partners of Canada, Starfish Ventures of Australia, and 

Generation Investment Management of London, whose chairman is Al Gore. 

They are joined by the high-profile Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which 

in August raised $24.5 million for Ausra. The solar start-up secured $30 million in February. 

Ausra aims to use the latest funds for research and development, as well as to finish a 5- 

megawatt solar thermal installation near Bakersfield, Calif. 

"This round of technology will enable us to accelerate 

delivery of our technology to our customers," said Bob 

Fishman, Ausra CEO and president, in a statement. 

Ausra began producing reflectors in June at its new 

Las Vegas plant. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0153159220081001

Nevada okays NV Energy’s plans on two power plants

Wed Oct 1, 2008 7:37pm EDT

LOS ANGELES, Oct 1 (Reuters) - NV Energy, a Sierra Pacific Resources (SRP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) company, received approval from Nevada state regulators to build a 484-megawatt natural gas power unit at its Harry Allen station and to buy from Reliant Energy (RRI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) a 562-MW natural gas unit at the Bighorn Power Plant, NV Energy said.

The Harry Allen unit is to start operating in the summer of 2011. The Harry Allen Generating Station is about 25 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Bighorn Power Plant, about 35 miles south of Las Vegas, has been in operation since 2004. The deal to sell the 562-MW unit to NV Energy is scheduled to close later this month.

NV Energy, as Nevada Power, announced in April this year that it would pay $500 million to Reliant for the Bighorn plant.

The Harry Allen plant is now as small one containing two 75-MW “peaker” units.

NV Energy is now the name of the combined utility that used to be two Nevada utilities — Nevada Power that covered southern Nevada and Sierra Pacific Power Company that covered northern Nevada. Sierra Pacific Resources had been the parent company of both. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

http://www.lvrj.com/news/29835634.html

Berkley seeking federal protection for land in county

Legislation would make Gold Butte conservation area

September 27,2008

By STEVE TETREAULT

STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., introduced a bill in Congress on Friday to designate almost a half-million acres of federal land in Clark County as wilderness or for other protections.

The bill would create a National Conservation Area with some controls on visitors to Gold Butte, an area encompassing 362,177 acres — more than 565 square miles — located 65 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Within the conservation area, 128,373 acres would be given added protection and managed as federal wilderness, a designation that prohibits vehicle traffic of any kind.

Additionally, the bill would grant wilderness status to 91,000 acres at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

“Gold Butte is an amazing natural treasure … and there is strong support in Southern Nevada for protecting this desert gem before it’s too late,” Berkley said in a statement.

The bill represents a step forward for a coalition of Nevada preservationists that for a decade has lobbied Congress to name Gold Butte as a federal conservation area in Clark County, same as Red Rock Canyon and Sloan Canyon.

The region that is between Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in Arizona features stunning rock formations, petroglyphs and remnants of mining towns that thrived early last century.

But lands bills customarily are contentious as they usually pit the conflicting interests of developers, preservationists, backpackers, off-roaders, local governments, hunters, campers and the like.

Almost immediately on Friday, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., charged that residents in the eastern part of the county were shut out, and that he would oppose the Berkley bill.

“What is happening with this legislation is irresponsible,” Porter said. Local boards “have been cut out of the process. Gold Butte is a local and national treasure but it is irresponsible to slide this in in the final hours of the session.”

“We are trying to find out how (Berkley) plans to get it passed,” Porter said.

A coalition that included Friends of Gold Butte and the Nevada Wilderness Project had brought the proposal to the state’s delegation earlier this summer.

Porter, whose district includes Gold Butte, sought reaction from town boards in Mesquite, Moapa Valley, Bunkerville and other communities. He put the idea aside after Bunkerville registered a strong objection.

Berkley, though, said the Clark County Commission “fully supports this effort.”

In part, county officials want more protected land in order to maintain the county’s multi-species habitat plan that balances development with set-asides for the desert tortoise and other threatened animal and plant species.

John Wallin, director of the Nevada Wilderness Project, said Porter put the plan down and Berkley picked it up.

“Congressman Porter’s office did not show the diligence or zeal that we felt this needed, and Congresswoman Berkley has done an incredible job to make sure this happens,” Wallin said.

Find this article at:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/29835634.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neighbors Band Together to Create World’s Largest Solar Energy Event

More Than 5,000 Homes, Schools & Businesses Participating In 13th Annual ASES National Solar Tour To Help Southern Nevada Residents Combat Rising Energy Prices & Improve Property Values

Contact: Allison Gray, 702-219-2318, solarhometour@solarnv.org

Las Vegas, Nevada, September 18, 2008 – Solar NV and the nonprofit American Solar Energy Society (ASES) are bringing together more than 5,000 homes, schools and businesses – from Southern Nevada and across the U.S. – to introduce neighbors to the solar technologies they are using to 1) drastically reduce monthly energy bills, 2) reduce harmful carbon emissions and 3) enjoy rich tax credits and cash incentives as they improve their property values during the National Solar Home Tour.

Local residents fed up with fossil fuel’s prices and damage to the environment will join more than 100,000 participants nationwide to discover the latest real-world insight on how neighbors can use solar energy and energy efficiency to become more energy independent.

“In the wake of national polls revealing that runaway energy costs is the economic issue Americans believe most personally affects them, the ASES National Solar Tour brings real-life examples of how neighbors are harnessing free energy from the sun to generate electricity, warm and cool their homes, heat water and slash monthly utility bills,” said Neal Lurie, Director of Marketing for the American Solar Energy Society.

On Saturday October 4, 2008, the fourth annual Southern Nevada Solar Home Tour will feature open house tours of four homes and four businesses in the greater Southern Nevada area. Each year, the solar home tour has been a sell-out success.

The self-guided tours, which last year attracted more than 115,000 people in 46 states, afford participants the direct perspectives of homeowners and installers about the costs, components, and economic and environmental benefits of going solar.

The Southern Nevada Solar Home Tour gives Nevadan’s a glimpse at how an increasing number of local families are living green using clean, renewable energy from our most abundant resource, the sun. It’s part of a national collaboration of unprecedented proportion to help Americans address a critical problem by introducing them to an array of clean, effective solutions that generate ongoing economic and environmental rewards.

This event — billed as the largest solar energy event in the history of the United States kicks off at the Springs Preserve, located at 333 South Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas, NV (just south of 95). Informational exhibits will be open from 9 AM - 12 noon and the self-guided Solar Home Tour runs from 10 AM until 4 PM.

Tour cost is $15 per vehicle and car pooling is enthusiastically encouraged. Hybrid/alternative fuel vehicles receive a $5 discount. Advance registration is required at www.solarnv.org.

http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/pr_092308_taxextenders.cfm

Reid Hails Passage of the Energy and Tax Extenders Bill

Invests in renewable energy, helps taxpayers, strengthens rural Nevada

September 23, 2008

Washington, DC—Nevada Senator Harry Reid today commended the passage of H.R. 6049, the Energy and Tax Extenders bill, landmark legislation for Nevada and the country that provides financial incentives to businesses for renewable energy production and conservation. The bill also strengthens Nevada’s rural communities by increasing funding for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act and the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which helps Nevada counties compensate for losses to their tax base that result from federal land ownership.

Additionally, the bill renews the tax provision that allows Nevadans to deduct sales taxes they pay from their federal income taxes. Every year, Nevadans save hundreds of millions of dollars by taking advantage of this deduction that is afforded to Nevada and a handful of other states where residents don’t pay state income taxes. “With so many uncertainties in our economy right now, this important element could not have come at a better time for Nevada’s working families,” said Reid. “Thousands of families count on the sales tax deduction, so renewing it was a major priority of mine.”

“This bill also goes a long way toward making Nevada the leader in clean renewable energy by providing tax incentives to companies that invest in solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, which would create tens of thousands of jobs in Nevada alone,” Reid added. The bill extends tax credits for eight years for companies that invest in solar development and three years to companies that develop other renewable energy sources. A recent report by Navigant Consulting, Inc. released last week found that 9,000 new permanent and tens of thousands of construction jobs could be created in Nevada by tapping into the state’s tremendous solar energy potential through the investment tax credit extension.

“Nevada’s rural communities also come out a winner because this legislation invests roughly $114 million in the PILT and Secure Rural Schools programs,” Reid added. “With nearly 90 percent of Nevada’s land being owned by the government, increasing funding to Secure Rural Schools and PILT will ensure that our rural counties are fairly compensated for lost revenue.” This bill increases our investment in Nevada’s rural communities by roughly $54 million over the next four years

Reid Announces Major Solar Grant for Nevada Company

September 19, 2008

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today announced that Acciona Solar Power, Inc., a Nevada company, will receive $600,000 in funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) to advance solar energy projects.

Senator Reid, a longtime advocate for clean, renewable energy sources, supports large scale solar thermal projects, especially to demonstrate energy storage.  He has voted for significant increases in Federal funding for such programs.

“I commend the DOE for making this investment in solar energy,” Reid said.  “This grant is a major step in the right direction for renewable energy projects and can take advantage of Nevada’s abundance of both sunny days and skilled labor.”