Here’s a little background on the Solar Power deal.
Senator Harry Reid’s son Rory has acknowledged representing ENN Mojave Energy LLC, a subsidiary of a Chinese Company.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-usa-china-reid-solar-idUSBRE87U06D20120831
That project provided a sweetheart land deal for ENN to purchase land near Laughlin, NV. That deal failed do to the fact that NV Energy (the Nevada public utility) refused to buy the power that the ENN project would produce.
06/2013
ENN Mojave Energy ends Laughlin solar plant attempt
.....LAUGHLIN — ENN Mojave Energy representatives informed Clark County officials today that they could not obtain power purchase agreements with utility companies within necessary contract deadlines, thus triggering an automatic termination of an agreement to create a solar power generation, manufacturing and research facility on 9,000 acres in southern Clark County....
snip
As for NV Energy, the company really doesn’t need more power, “green” or otherwise. NV Energy projects it will sell 2.1 percent less electricity this year than last, and its projections are for power sales to increase about 1 percent a year or less.
http://4thst8.wordpress.com/tag/enn-mojave-energy/
(more links in the above)
So, what does Reid et al do ?
Well, they also had introduced in the Nevada State legislature, SB123;
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/77th2013/Reports/history.cfm?billname=SB123
This bill forces NV Energy to reduce their reliance on coal and to replace it with “Green Energy”. An attempt to force them to purchase “green power” from the likes of ENN.
Just read the bill.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Section 7 of this bill requires an electric utility which primarily serves densely
populated counties (currently only Clark County) and which, in the most recently
completed calendar year or in any other calendar year within the 7 calendar years
immediately preceding the most recently completed calendar year, had a gross
operating revenue of $250,000,000 or more in this State to submit to the Public
Utilities Commission of Nevada a comprehensive plan for the reduction of
emissions from coal-fired electric generating plants and the replacement of the
capacity of such plants with increased capacity from renewable energy facilities
and other electric generating plants. Section 7 prescribes the minimum
requirements of such an emissions reduction and capacity replacement plan, which
include: (1) the retirement or elimination of not less than 800 megawatts of
coal-fired electric generating capacity on or before December 31, 2019; (2) the
construction or acquisition of, or contracting for, 350 megawatts of electric
generating capacity from renewable energy facilities; and (3) the construction or
acquisition of 550 megawatts of electric generating capacity from other electric
generating plants. Section 9 of this bill provides for the recovery of certain costs
incurred by an electric utility in carrying out an emissions reduction and capacity
replacement plan.
snip
So, NV Energy doesn’t need or want the “Green Energy” and then they passed a law that will effectively force them to accept the higher cost and unreliable “Green” energy.
BTW, The coal plant in question is substantially closer to Bunkerville than Laughlin.
More on the passage of SB123 in Nevada.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jun/04/nv-energy-bill-wins-passage-signaling-shift-coal/
Cliven Bundy has no legal authority to graze cattle on federal lands in the Gold Butte area, including Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The U.S. District Court of Nevada has permanently enjoined Cliven Bundy's trespass grazing, ordered him to remove his trespass cattle from public lands inside and outside the former Bunkerville Allotment (including from the Lake Mead NRA) before December 2013, and stated the U.S. is entitled to seize and impound any cattle that have not been removed by the judicially imposed off-date and that remain in trespass. A large number of the trespass cattle on the federal lands are feral cattle that can pose a threat to members of the public recreating or traveling over the federal lands. The trespass cattle have also caused damage to private property, as well as to the federal lands and natural resources.What Non-Governmental Organization has expressed concern about trespass cattle on Gold Butte interfering with mitigation efforts required by solar development at the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone (SEZ)?Examples of Restoration Funding and Viability Impacted
Non-Governmental Organizations have expressed concern that the regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone utilizes Gold Butte as the location for offsite mitigation for impacts from solar development, and that those restoration activities are not durable with the presence of trespass cattle.
There is one pending solar application within the Dry Lake SEZ (Application 84052, for a 919 acre parabolic trough facility).[2]
The applicant is NV Power Co. and the application, NVN-084052, is on hold [3]. Is NV Power the NGO complaining about cattle on Gold Butte? I don't know.
[1] http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/lvfo/blm_programs/more/trespass_cattle/cattle_trespass_impacts.html
Retrieved from Google cache
[2] http://blmsolar.anl.gov/sez/nv/dry-lake/
[3] http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/lvfo/blm_programs/energy/southern_nevada_reco.html