Nevada’s energy market is at a turning point, and the state is on the cusp of becoming a national clean energy leader. After the Reid Gardner coal plant officially shut down in mid March, the Valmy coal plant in northern Nevada is the last coal plant contributing to the state’s electric grid. Only days after Reid Gardner closed, the Moapa Band of Paiutes—who were most directly affected by Reid Gardner pollution—celebrated the opening of a solar farm capable of producing the same amount of electricity as Reid Gardner.
This clean energy progress is great news since it creates jobs and protects the health and safety of all Nevadans. Most importantly, there is significant room for growth. Nevada still gets about 90 percent of its electricity from other states, mostly natural gas. Despite the relatively small share of Nevada’s electricity that comes from renewables, there are 20,752 clean energy and energy efficiency jobs in Nevada—that’s more than four times the number people employed by the fossil fuel industry. Considering the state's outsize solar potential, eager workforce, and new investment from the private sector—including Tesla’s Gigafactory—the clean energy future for Nevada is bright.
The Trump administration, however, is threatening the progress in Nevada and throughout the country by gutting the Environmental Protection Agency and dismantling the Clean Power Plan. Nevadans don’t want to roll back life-saving public health and climate protections. Nevadans don’t want to continue to pollute our air, water, and land with toxic chemicals and power plant emissions. Fortunately, Nevada is capable of moving forward despite the backward policies coming from the White House.
Nevada has everything it takes to be a clean energy leader. The Moapa Band of Paiutes are proving that we can replace coal with clean energy that creates jobs and keeps our energy bills low. Tesla is proving that Nevada is an ideal home base for innovative manufacturing that can support renewable energy development throughout the world. Now we need our state’s leaders, including Senator Dean Heller, to stand up to the concerted federal inaction on climate issues that threatens to hold our state back.