Sustainability
With decarbonization, advocates see a bright future for nuclear after decades of dormancy
IDAHO FALLS, Id. — At the sprawling array of laboratories and test facilities in the southeastern Idaho desert where the U.S. nuclear power industry was born more than 70 years ago, past, present and future are converging.\ Not far from where the first reactor to ever produce usable electricity made history in 1951, Idaho National […]
Mining bristles at water conservation bill to prevent abandoned pits
Hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines litter Nevada, left by their owners decades ago. From those mines, plenty of valuable minerals have been extracted: gold, silver, lead, copper. What’s left behind in many cases, however, is acidic water and heavy metals leaching into the state’s waterways. Reno Democratic Assemblywoman Sarah Peters and conservation minded Nevadans […]
Southwest Gas seeks ‘blank check,’ for unnecessary effort, say opponents
The pipe carrying natural gas beneath homes and businesses in Southern Nevada may be more at risk of leaking than other types of conduit, but not enough to warrant saddling ratepayers with the bill to replace it at a time when gas bills are skyrocketing and the state is seeking to reduce its dependence on […]
Washoe County puts Gerlach geothermal project on ice
In a major victory for a small rural town at the edge of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, county officials revoked a permit for a contentious geothermal energy project locals have fiercely opposed. On Tuesday in a 3-2 vote, the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners denied Ormat Technologies a permit for a geothermal […]
NV and other lower Colorado River Basin states face major water cuts under federal proposal
Federal officials on Tuesday proposed unprecedented cuts to the amount of water Nevada, California, and Arizona could get from the Colorado River in an attempt to course correct after decades of drought and overuse. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation released a draft environmental impact statement detailing three possible operation revisions, one of […]
Robust streamflow projected in NV this summer
Nevada can expect robust streamflow well into the summer and brimming reservoirs into the fall as federal water managers forecast snowmelt twice that of previous years. After four months of above average snow and rain, March saw the biggest snow accumulation on record across the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin, with some records dating back […]
Biden administration rolls out $585 million for Western water projects
The Biden administration will send $585 million to water projects in 11 Western states, Interior Department officials said Wednesday. The funding, provided in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, will go toward 83 projects in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, California, North Dakota and Washington. The law provided $8.3 billion for […]
Lawmakers tackle groundwater depletion in conservation bill
Although Nevada is the driest state in the nation, the state is lined with an intricate network of groundwater aquifers, and with a megadrought draining water reserves, lawmakers are now pushing for a bill that would buy out water rights. Lawmakers say the proposed legislation, SB176, would help address and avoid conflicts over groundwater by […]
Here’s where renewable power is increasing (and where it’s not)
Despite supply-chain problems amid the lingering effects of the pandemic, 2022 saw major increases in solar and wind power in the United States, though that growth varied by state, according to a report released last month by a nonprofit focused on climate change. Nationally, electricity generated from solar and wind grew 16% from 2021, with […]
Judge sides with Lombardo on conservation agency appointment
A Nevada district judge has sided with Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo over a recent controversial appointment that prompted a lawsuit from a conservation group. Earlier this year, the Center for Biological Diversity and a former state employee challenged the appointment of former Republican state Sen. James Settelmeyer as director of the Department of Conservation and […]
Rosen, Cortez Masto join Republicans to undo Biden rule on wetlands
WASHINGTON — Both Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the Biden administration’s intensely contested expansion of what qualifies as wetlands that the federal government can regulate. The Senate approved a resolution, sponsored by West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito, that would revoke the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of […]
Reno-based geothermal developer set to sue Biden administration over toad’s endangered listing
A geothermal energy developer vowed to sue the Biden administration over its decision to list a rare Nevada toad as endangered. The endangered listing could potentially derail the company’s latest renewable energy project in Nevada. In a letter filed Wednesday, Reno-based Ormat Technologies Inc. announced their intention to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service […]