Opinion: Climate change poses risk to Nev. economy
By Andy Wirth
As the leader of a major destination mountain resort in North America, thankfully located in the Reno/Tahoe area, I am deeply concerned about the risk that climate change poses to our industry, and our entire region’s economy. Climate change has already begun to reveal itself as persistent drought in the Sierra Nevada, lower snowpack, increased number and scale of forest fires, and the substantially increased volatility of weather patterns across our great state.
Andy Wirth
None of this will help our local outdoor recreation economy and our region’s overall economy.
Meanwhile, the Reno/Tahoe area is still working to recover from a recession that hit our
community hard, in many ways much harder than the recent drought. Widespread economic downturns like the one we began to experience in 2008 impact tourist areas dramatically, since travel and recreation are often the first things cut from family budgets.
These two issues – climate change and a recovering economy – might not seem related, but
there is a very real nexus between the two.
Only by addressing those aspects of climate change that are already impacting our region can we ensure long-term economic growth and a sustainable economy. Fortunately, we are incredibly well positioned to do so in Nevada.
Nevada has such great clean energy potential that we can not only meet our own energy needs easily with solar and geothermal, but we also have the very real potential to export renewable energy to states like California. We can lead the nation on clean energy and build a stronger and more diverse local economy at the same time.
Unfortunately, our region finds itself on a different path.
NV Energy, our state’s largest utility, sends billions of dollars a year out of Nevada by importing coal and natural gas from other states. Earlier this month, NV Energy protected jobs for people in Arizona by announcing the purchase of another out-of-state natural gas plant. This is decidedly disappointing to all of us in Nevada and the region, as there is a very real, plausible and fiscally responsible alternative: investing in Nevada’s renewable energy. These actions would create jobs here for you and your neighbors.
So what’s standing in the way of Nevada’s transition to clean energy? Many Reno residents
probably don’t realize that over one-quarter of their electricity comes directly from a dirty,
expensive, outdated coal plant – North Valmy. This coal plant, far away near Battle Mountain, is quite literally NV Energy’s dirty little secret. Valmy generates more climate-disrupting carbon pollution than any other single source in Nevada.
Currently Valmy is scheduled to continue operating until 2025, importing coal from Wyoming, spewing air pollution and accelerating the climate change that’s devastating our industry and our future. It’s time to end coal burning at Valmy and replace it with clean, affordable renewable energy. We must continue the forward progress we’ve made by bringing clean tech businesses like Tesla, Switch, Apple, Patagonia and Faraday to the region. We can’t attract and retain these types of businesses if we are unable to supply them with the clean energy that is key to their business models.
Luckily, we have an opportunity before us right now to do just that. Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Clean Energy Industry Task Force is considering recommendations this month on legislation to accelerate our transition to clean energy. The most important recommendation they could make would be to end coal burning at Valmy by 2020. I hope the Task Force will take a hard look at Valmy (and the out-of-state coal that powers it) as an opportunity to keep our energy dollars here at home. Let’s transition away from polluting coal energy and build in its place the 100 percent clean energy that is our region’s indisputable future.
Sincerely,
Andy Wirth, chairman Reno Tahoe Airport Board of Trustees
Chairman, Regional Air Service Corporation
President and CEO Squaw Valley Ski Holdings
What about NV Energy’s bait and switch on solar incentives and not honoring the promises to the local residents that have installed rooftop systems in Nevada? MANY jobs have been lost with companies like Solar City leaving the state because of the recent changes for the incentives that are now vanishing! Much has been in the news about the issue.
Excerpt from a recent article:
Where Sandoval’s energy task force stands on renewables, solar By Daniel Rothberg (contact)
Friday, May 27, 2016
Most people think rooftop solar customers should be grandfathered
Except for the utilities commission.
In December, the commission approved new rates that tripled a fixed fee and reduced the value of credits rooftop solar customers earn for sending excess electricity back to the grid. The ruling applied to all customers, even those who adopted solar before the decision.
On Thursday, the task force recommended legislation to fix the issue. From NV Energy to organized labor, almost the entire task force lined up behind the concept of letting people who installed rooftop solar under more favorable utility rates keep those rates for 20 years.
The plan would grandfather customers who installed solar or were in the process of doing so when the new rates went into effect Jan. 1.
Bringing back solar. That’s going to take more time.
Few energy issues have been as politically sensitive as the debate over how to integrate rooftop solar with the electricity grid. When the utilities commission adopted the new rates in December, SolarCity and Sunrun halted sales operations and laid off hundreds of workers.
Now SolarCity is working hard to come back to Nevada, so hard that it dropped about $2 million on a political action committee working to undo the rules. NV Energy has contributed $1 million to oppose the group. The task force didn’t weigh in on the issue at its meeting.
Instead, it asked for more time.
A subcommittee of the task force will continue exploring options for the future of rooftop solar and how best to integrate emerging technology, such as battery storage. They are weighing possibilities that include higher reimbursements for solar customers and aligning the utility’s incentives with greater deployment of rooftop solar.
Maybe Mr. Wirth would like weather of 10,000 years ago when the Lake Tahoe area was under 1000’s of feet of ice before SUV’s melted the ice or a few hundred years ago when large trees were growing at the bottom of Fallen Leaf Lake.
Clean energy, schmean energy, lay of the snow pipes and maybe your head will clear.