Sustainability
Trump nominates Bernhardt to Interior
President Trump on Monday announced that he’ll nominate David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist and George W. Bush administration official, to become the next Interior secretary. If confirmed by the Senate, Bernhardt will take the reins of the agency that manages 70,000 employees and 500 million acres of federal land — about one-fifth of the land […]
Nevada delegation condemns secret shipment of plutonium to state
The U.S Department of Energy has disclosed it shipped a large amount of weapon-grade plutonium to Nevada without the state’s knowledge. In November, Nevada filed a request in a Reno federal court for an injunction to block a shipment of plutonium from South Carolina to the Nevada National Security Site, which is often referred to […]
Titus blasts Trump administration for “total failure” on wild horse management
In a letter to the House Natural Resource Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Nevada Rep. Dina Titus called for an increase in the protection of wild horses, and blasted the Trump Administration for weakening conservation efforts. “(U)nder the Trump Administration, federal land managers, in particular the Bureau of Land Management, have taken significant steps to […]
Audubon story chronicles “secretive deal” over Anaconda clean-up
Drinking bottled water has become a way of life for members of Nevada’s Yerington Paiute Tribe, according to an extensive story published this month in Audobon Magazine. And the story chronicles how secretive deals between a corporation and state and federal officials may thwart environmental clean-up of the tribe’s water resources for years or […]
Groups respond to Bonnie Springs project in dramatically different ways
The pending closure and sale of Bonnie Springs has sparked a range of reactions from the community, from calls to relocate the ranch’s most popular attractions, to pleas for somebody somewhere to please start talking about how the county handles development and growth as a whole. Save Red Rock wants to save Old Town. The group […]
Former NRC chair: Nuclear power is a “failed technology”
“Nevada is not anti-nuclear and does not oppose nuclear power,” wrote Gov. Kenny Guinn in a 2002 letter disapproving Yucca Mountain’s designation as a nuclear waste dump. It has always seemed a bit perplexing that throughout Nevada’s long, long fight against the dump, state politicians and officials have shied away from confronting the source of […]
Bonnie Springs Ranch developer: No zoo, smaller motel, natural look
Additional details have emerged about the future of Bonnie Springs Ranch. The developers, Joel Laub & Associates, are hoping the new details will reassure the public that their intentions are to preserve the natural beauty of Red Rock Canyon while adding residential housing that falls well within the county’s rural zoning requirements. The Current reported Monday […]
Rural residents fear U.S. Navy bombing range threatens their economy
The U.S. Navy has long argued that its Fallon Range Training Complex in Nevada needs more space to test aviation weapons that fly at higher altitudes and greater distances in order to counter evolving threats in modern warfare. Taking steps to expand the range, the military has proposed taking ownership of 618,727 acres of public […]
NV Energy to close coal plant, adds solar
Nevada regulators have approved NV Energy’s supply plan to construct six major solar projects, all but eliminating coal-fired production and doubling the utility’s renewable resources by 2023. The Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously on Friday to approve the final draft of NV Energy’s 2019-2038 Triennial Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), also referred to as NV Energy’s […]
Why Heller should be Trump’s Interior Secretary
Later this week Donald Trump could name Dean Heller to replace ethically challenged Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, and Heller might be the best person Trump could possibly name to the job. Make no mistake, every person who is a possible Interior nominee — at least two Republican politicians from nearly every state […]
Cliven Bundy has a plan
Celebrity scofflaw Cliven Bundy has a plan, a grand plan, to open up federal lands in northeast Clark County to all manner of commercial development, and Bundy was scheduled to present the plan to the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board Wednesday night, the Moapa Valley Progress reports. The plan could only be implemented […]
Climate change will make Nevada more expensive, less livable
Climate change is already costing us money. It’s going to cost us a lot more. Low-income people are the ones who will be hit the hardest. And the impacts — both ecological and economic — will be harsh in sunbelt states like Nevada. Those are some of the grim conclusions in the Fourth National Climate […]