Above is an artist's rendering of the new coal-powered electric generation station that Sierra Pacific Resources plans to build just north of Ely, Nevada. Rather innocuous, wouldn't you say?
Posted on 07/26/2007 7:56:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada sent a letter this week to four companies telling them not to build planned coal-burning power plants in his state.
Reid's letter, dated Monday, was addressed to the corporate leaders of the Sierra Pacific Resources, private equity LS Power Group, Dynegy Inc. and Sithe Global Power LLC. A copy of the letter was obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
"I am writing to each of you regarding your company's proposal to build new coal-fired power plants in eastern Nevada and to express my strong opposition to those plants," Reid wrote.
The Democratic senator said he will use his influential post in Congress to keep coal plants out of Nevada.
"Because I believe that developing renewable energy in Nevada is far preferable to coal for the sake of our economy, public health and the environment, I will use every means at my disposal to prevent the construction of new coal-fired power plants in Nevada that do not capture and permanently store greenhouse gas emissions," Reid wrote.
Reid said he'd rather have the state focus on renewable power and energy efficiency. He also opposes nuclear power for Nevada and the Yucca Mountain site in the state for storage of nuclear waste.
Reid said "the state's demand for energy can be met largely through new renewable energy, energy efficiency and demand-side management."
That's just unrealistic in a fast-growing state where power use is on the rise, particularly in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, said Frank Maisano of energy company advocate Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.
"Given the massive growth in the region, (Reid's letter) is probably not reflective of reality to say we are not going to build any new coal plants," said Maisano, acting as spokesman for Sithe Global, which is owned by the Blackstone Group's Blackstone Capital Partners (80 percent) and Reservoir Capital Group (20 percent.
"Senator Reid is also opposed to nuclear power, so I don't know how they are going to meet Nevada's growing power needs," Maisano said.
About 70 percent of the power generated in Nevada is from natural gas-fired plants and 13 percent by coal-fired plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. There are no nuclear power plants in Nevada.
Coal-fired plants account for 50 percent of U.S. electricity generation, nuclear power for 20 percent, and natural gas-fired plants for 18 percent.
Sounds like harry, his sons, and their mob friends are sucking around for a juicy bribe. The FBI needs to send a couple of “power company lobbyists” to his office with a suitcase full of money and a hidden camera.
i love democrats! /s
they don’t want us to fight the wot and to maintain troops in the major oil producing area,
they don’t want us to build nuclear,
they don’t want us to build coal burning plants,
they don’t want us to drill in alaska,
they don’t want us to drill off shore in ca or the gulf,
they don’t want us to drill for gas in new mexico,
they don’t want us to use oil shale in colorado,
they don’t want us to build wind generating plants off of cape cod—it might spoil ted kennedy’s view,
meanwhile these “environmentalists” travel the globe, leaving no stone unturned,
often they are seen in suv’s, and they drive around in their cars. even their prius take more energy to produce than they save.
I smell rats. Seriously, does anybody really think that a democrat senator would do *anything* for principle?
So what’s in it for Harry? Perhaps he or his buddies have invested in some coal plant company that uses a cleaner burning, but more expensive system, like a plasma furnace, and he doesn’t want competition in the State. Maybe he is invested up to his eyebrows in gas burning plants. Maybe he wants to stick it to the coal mining companies or the railroads.
Whatever, I give you odds that dirty Harry has an angle.
He, like his comrades, have no more principles than perverted priests at a Cub Scout camp.
Wonderful opportunity to observe the consequences. Pass the popcorn.
To say the least.
The most infuriating thing is that the rolling blackouts that are sure to come as an inevitable consequence of this lunatic policy will not be blamed on Reid or his caucus by the media.
Still, we should file idiotic statements like these away for the days of the energy shortages that are sure to come.
Dingy is a tool. Actually, a box of tools.
Well we can always burn oil. When is America going to wake up to the real enemy??
Pray for W and Our Troops
Above is an artist's rendering of the new coal-powered electric generation station that Sierra Pacific Resources plans to build just north of Ely, Nevada. Rather innocuous, wouldn't you say?
Coal fired power plants are also under attack in Florida.
Just a thought...Curious actually...If there is a showdown over insufficient electrical power in Las Vegas. Who would win? Las Vegas or Harry Reid?
Exactly...dems are just going insane. Pick a reputable power source or shutup, dems!
Unless he passes a law against it, he should go fly a kite.
California can’t build nuke power plants. Only if the final waste repository is working.
He probably owns or controls land where they want to build. They haven't paid him enough to shutdown his demagoguery.
Ding, Ding, Ding, no more calls please, we have a winner.
What an idiot. I guess that means he's opposed to any new growth in Nevada as well. Maybe all those casino's can change to super bright LED lights to conserve energy, and put up a few windmills and solar panels - While he's at it, why doesn't he mandate that all new families moving to Nevada live in a earthen home and milk goats for sustenance?
The dems are against anything good. Such as a good economy. Or the average person being able to easily afford electricity; one of the miracles this nation has been able to provide.
Anything destructive the dems are for.
Not if you saw the valley where they’re putting it in person, or the perfectly good, productive ranches they’re going to dry up to get the 24,000 acre-feet of underground water for their cooling.
Given that all these coal-fired projects are planning on selling their power to (ultimately) California, I say build them in California. Why should Nevadans have to suffer reduced air quality, diversion of precious water resources and see increased transmission lines across our landscapes to allow the idiots in California to light their McMansions?
I’d be quite happy if most of the people who have moved to Nevada in the last 10 years moved right back out. The cost of the growth is killing us. We don’t have the water, the clowns moving in don’t add to the tax rolls, they only take, as a result a very conservative state is quickly turning liberal, and we’re being overrun with the same nanny-state types one sees in California and the northeast.
Send ‘em packing. Good riddance.
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