Nevada

see fake electors

STATE GOP?

UNION STRONG

HARRY REID

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AN 8 26

The Republican Party's lawsuit against the state of Nevada over the law allowing ballots be counted up to four days after the Election Day has been dismissed.

In several states, ballots that are postmarked on Election Day are still counted, even if they are received by election officials a few days after the election. Nevada's law allows up to four days to continue receiving ballots. Ballots with missing or unreadable postmarks may also be counted as long as they arrive within the three days that follow.

The RNC and Nevada Republican Party sued Nevada in 2024 to block the ballot counting, claiming that the law passed in 2021 unlawfully extends Election Day. They pointed to federal laws that set a uniform national date for federal elections. They also claimed that counting late-arriving ballots could dilute Republican votes and provide Democrats an unfair advantage. Nevada officials and voting-rights advocates countered that the relevant act is casting or mailing the ballot by Election Day, not the postal service’s delivery date, and that the law helps ensure legally cast votes are counted.

In the lower-court ruling, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du dismissed the appeal, saying that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Ninth Circuit, where the case remained pending until Friday's decision.

According to decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals similarly decided on procedural grounds, not on the law itself, Democracy Docket posted.

The three-judge panel explained that the plaintiffs were not actually harmed by the lower court’s ruling. And if they were not harmed by it, they had no legal right (no standing) to pursue the appeal. The court therefore dismissed the appeal.

This isn't the only case the GOP has filed related to mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

The most important case came from Mississippi, where the RNC, Mississippi Republican Party and individual voters challenged a law allowing absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive up to five business days later.

A federal district court initially rejected the challenge, but the Fifth Circuit struck down the law. In June 2026, however, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that ruling in Watson v. Republican National Committee in a 5–4 agreement

"The federal Election-Day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days thereafter; nothing in the federal Election-Day statutes requires ballots to be received by Election Day," explained SCOTUSblog.

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Details be damned: Nevada gov. pledges full commitment to Trump immigration plans

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sep 2024

14 fake electors from 2020 are Donald Trump electors again in 2024

Fourteen so-called fake electors who participated in former President Donald Trump’s 2020 scheme to throw the election results into chaos will once again serve as electors for Trump in 2024, including several who currently face criminal charges.

With input from the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, Republican state parties in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada have renominated 14 of the 84 fake electors from the 2020 election. Wisconsin's electors aren't publicly available until the first week of October, according to state election officials. A legal settlement bars unauthorized Wisconsin 2020 electors from serving as electors for Trump again.

There are no repeat electors from 2020 on this year’s Republican slates for Arizona and Georgia, the other two states where fake electors signed certificates incorrectly declaring Trump the winner.

The 14 former fake electors who are serving again include the Nevada Republican Party chairman, the Republican National Committeeman from Pennsylvania and several current or former county chairs.

usatoday

"Politically or in terms of the health of our democracy, the idea that people who potentially committed a crime in trying to further a scheme to subvert the results of the 2020 election... the idea that they are in any way involved in politics is troubling," Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law Rick Hasen said.

While some may have acted with the belief that they were just a back up if there was a legal change to the outcome, Hasen noted, "some of them, there have at least been allegations that they knew what they were doing and they knowingly engaged in criminal conduct."

None of the 14 repeat electors responded to USA TODAY's attempts to contact them.

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump is facing four felony charges in Washington, D.C. related to leading conspiracies to reverse the 2020 results and disenfranchise millions of voters. He has refused to commit to unconditionally accepting the results of the upcoming 2024 election, and while he has sometimes acknowledged that he lost the 2020 race, he has also continued to falsely tell supporters that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.

Pending charges

Charges have been brought against the fake electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, as well as some people working with Trump.

Some of the cases are moving very slowly. In August, a Maricopa County judge set a tentative trial date of Jan. 5, 2026, for Arizona's fake electors case. The state GOP did not renominate any of the 2020 electors. In Nevada, the state has appealed to the state supreme court a lower court decision to reject the fake electors case stating it had been filed in the wrong county.

More:‘Somewhat dicey' and ‘problematic’: Inside Trump's bid to have fake electors overturn 2020 election

Still, electors might think twice about being party to signing such certificates again, Hasen said.

"Anyone who's an elector who's asked to do something shady this time, might think, hmm, last time around, these people were indicted, so maybe I shouldn't do that," Hasen said.

Michigan

The Michigan Republican Party has renominated the most fake electors. Six names that appeared on a certificate falsely claiming that Trump had won the state are on the 2024 list of 15 electors provided by the Michigan Secretary of State's office: Amy Facchinello, John Haggard, Timothy King, Marian Sheridan, Hank Choate and Meshawn Maddock–a former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

Trump lost Michigan in 2020 by about 154,000 votes.

All six of them face criminal charges. The trial has not yet been scheduled but isn't expected to begin this year.

Choate's attorney, David Kallman, said the pending 2020 charges shouldn't affect who is picked to be a 2024 elector. Choate has pleaded not guilty.

"This was another election year. This really has nothing to do with the last 2020, election," he said. "I don't think it really impacts the criminal case at all."

Kallman said that Choate didn't know he was doing anything wrong in 2020. He said Trump's attorney's told the electors that the certificate would only be used if Trump's campaign won a court case overturning the results of the election in Michigan or if the state legislature stepped in.

"My client was told by people he trusted, attorneys at this meeting, that this wasn't going to be used unless one of those things happened," Kallman said.

He said electors were only presented with the page to sign their names, not the page that falsely claimed that they voted in the Capitol building and that Trump won.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Republicans submitted a list of presidential electors to the secretary of state’s office with five former fake electors: Bill Bachenberg, Bernadette Comfort, Ash Khare, Pat Poprik and Andy Reilly. The state has 19 electoral votes. Trump lost in 2020 by about 80,000 votes.

Reilly, an attorney, is also the Republican National Committeeman from Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania electors wouldn't sign the fake certificate in 2020 unless the forms specifically said that their votes weren't to be counted until the courts ruled in Trump's favor. Therefore, electors have not been charged with a crime.

Khare, who has been an elector since 1990, told USA TODAY in April that he advocated to include that clause.

"We wanted to make sure that we’re not doing anything illegal," he said.

Nevada

The Nevada Republican Party renominated Michael McDonald, the chair of the state party, and Jesse Law, chairman of the Republican party of Clark County, both of whom signed the 2020 certificate although Trump lost the state by 154,000 votes. The state has six electoral votes.

McDonald, a longtime friend of Trump's who is senior adviser to the 2024 Trump campaign, and Law were among the electors indicted in Nevada. The case, which was dismissed over questions of whether it was filed in the correct county, has been appealed by Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, to the state Supreme Court.

Trump lost Nevada by more than 30,000 votes.

New Mexico

The New Mexico Republican Party renominated Deborah Weh Maestas, the former state party chair. The state has five electoral votes. It's role in the scheme was always considered an outlier. New Mexico is not a swing state and has supported Democrats in every presidential election since 2008. Trump lost there in 2020 but about 100,000 votes.

Like in Pennsylvania, the 2020 New Mexico electors wouldn't sign unless the forms specifically said that their votes weren't to be counted until the courts ruled in Trump's favor. New Mexico electors have not been charged with a crime.

More:Wisconsin is the last state that may prosecute Trump’s fake electors, but AG Josh Kaul is mum

A key legal change since 2020

Electors normally draw little to no attention. In a presidential election year, each party nominates state electors who will vote for their presidential nominee in the Electoral College if their candidate wins. Party leaders such as the county party chairs or local elected officials are normally selected. Their names must be submitted to the state before the election and made publicly available.

But in 2020 GOP officials in seven states that President Joe Biden won sent fake electoral certificates to Congress stating that former President Donald Trump had actually won. The certificates were an effort to baselessly convince lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence that there were substantial questions about the outcome of the election in swing states.

The House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and Trump's efforts to stay in power after losing the election found that the fake electoral certificates were part of a coordinated effort by Trump's allies to block Congress from certifying the election results. They wanted Congress to return th

Pence refused to accept, or even consider, the "alternate" electoral slates.

Jonathan Diaz, Director of Voting Advocacy for advocacy group Campaign Legal Center, said it is unlikely that scheme would be successful again. In 2022, Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform Act, which changed the rules so Congress can only count electoral certificates signed by the governor of the state or another official approved by state law when the House and Senate meet to count the votes on Jan. 6. It also raised the threshold for members of Congress to object to counting a state from one representative and one senator to one-fifth of each chamber. Also, in 2023 the Supreme Court ruled in Moore v. Harper that state legislatures have little power to overturn election results.

"It's really going to be much, much more difficult for a slate of fake electors to try the same kind of shenanigans that they did in 2020," Diaz said. "The [2022 law] was really targeted at plugging the holes that existed in the previous process, because the law was so old, and really making sure that the kind of effort that we saw focused on that joint session of Congress can't occur again."

*USA TODAY reporter Erin Mansfield contributed to this article

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in December 2020, six Nevada Republicans made efforts to overturn the presidential election results in the state.

According to an exclusive Politico report, the group of "Republican activists and operatives," at ex-President Donald Trump's request, "signed fake certificates on Dec. 14, 2020, falsely declaring themselves to be the state's duly appointed Electoral College representatives."

The state's Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford has been "quietly" probing the efforts of Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald, Jim DeGraffenreid, "Jesse Law, the head of the Clark County Republican Party; Durward James Hindle III; Eileen Rice; and Shawn Meehan," Politico reports.

Per the report, recently, "Investigators have questioned witnesses about the attempts of the so-called alternate electors to present themselves as viable representatives of the states' voters, according to three people familiar with the probe. Investigators have also asked about documents those people prepared as part of the effort."

Politico notes DeGraffenreid "was in touch with Kenneth Chesebro — a lawyer working with the Trump campaign and a chief architect of the fake elector scheme — in the days before the activists signed the fake certificates, according to the House Jan. 6 select committee report."

Chesebro was indicted alongside Trump and 17 others by a Fulton Country grand jury in August on criminal charges related to their plan to overturn the election.

According to Politico, the attorney general "has previously sent mixed messages about the potential for a state investigation into the false electors' actions," suggesting in May thatcpiminal charges were unlikely.

"As you all know, I have been silent on Nevada's fake electors, except to say that the matter was on our radar," he said days later during a June testimony to the Nevada state legislature. "With it on our radar, we ascertained that current state statutes did not directly address the conduct in question — to the dismay of some, and I’m sure, to the delight of others."

However, Politico reports Ford then said during a September interview, "I've never said that we're not going to prosecute. It is not that I've said that I can do nothing. What I have said, and I've been precise with my wording on purpose, is we don't have statutes in this state that directly address the issue."

*Politico report is here.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4138124-trumps-fake-electors-7-states-he-lost/

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What’s happening with Trump’s ‘fake electors’ in 7 states he lost

BY NICK ROBERTSON - 08/04/23

Former President Trump was arraigned Thursday on four charges alleging that he attempted to orchestrate a scheme of fraudulent electoral college votes to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In seven states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — so-called “fake electors” signed paperwork attempting to cast electoral college ballots for Trump instead of their states’ actual winner, President Biden.

The groups hoped that former Vice President Pence would count the fake electors’ certifications instead of the legitimate ones when the electoral college vote was certified on Jan. 6, 2021, changing the result of the election, the indictment alleged. None were successful.

Here’s what each state is, and isn’t, doing to investigate and prosecute them.

Arizona

A group of 22 Arizona Republicans, including the Republican Party chair and multiple state legislature members, signed papers intending to cast false electoral college votes in December 2020. That paperwork is now the focus of both a federal and state investigation.

State Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) ratcheted up her investigation into the group in July, requesting records from involved figures. The investigation is in its early stages.

Figures surrounding the case also received federal subpoenas for information and communication, according to local media.

Georgia

On the day that Georgia certified its electoral results in favor of Biden, 16 Republicans — led by the state’s Republican Party chair — allegedly met in a secret meeting in the state capitol to discuss plans to send an alternate slate of votes to Washington. The group also signed paperwork making their plans official.

The scheme is central to prosecutor Fani Willis’ (D) state probe into attempts to overturn the 2020 election, which may result in an additional indictment for Trump.

At least eight of the fake electors have signed immunity deals with Willis’ office, offering to cooperate in exchange for not being prosecuted.

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An independent reporter, who briefly barged in on the meeting, was called to testify to a grand jury debating whether to charge Trump, his attorney Rudi Giuliani and others this month.

The investigation is effectively complete, Willis said, and a grand jury is expected to decide on whether to charge Trump and others by the end of August.

Uniquely, the probe has also investigated Trump and his allies’ actions in other states.

The Georgia probe is the most significant of any state’s investigation into 2020 election meddling and is the only known case where Trump himself is a target of an investigation.

Michigan

FILE – Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks during a news conference in Detroit, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Published reports say Nessel’s office is asking that a special prosecutor investigate whether the Republican candidate for state attorney general, Matt DePerno, and others should be charged in connection with an effort to gain access to voting machines after the 2020 election. DePerno has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. (Max Ortiz/Detroit News via AP, File)

A group of 16 Michigan Republicans was charged with crimes related to a fake electors scheme last month, concluding an investigation by state Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) which began again in January.

Nessel initially referred the charges to federal prosecutors in early 2022 but pursued a state case again after federal officials failed to pursue charges after a year.

The group met in the basement of the state Republican Party headquarters and signed documents claiming to be electoral college voters, prosecutors allege. Some of them later showed up at the state capitol and attempted to cast electoral college ballots.

Three of the state’s rightful electors filed a civil suit against the group of 16 in January, requesting $25,000 in damages claiming they suffered humiliation and harassment due to the group’s fake elector scheme.

The scheme is separate from another investigation into attempts to break into voting machines in Michigan. A former GOP attorney general candidate, a state legislator and a prominent Trump campaign lawyer were charged this week in that case.

Nevada

FILE – Nevada State GOP Chairman Michael McDonald announces President Donald Trump before he speaks the Nevada Republican Party Convention at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino Saturday, June 23, 2018, in Las Vegas. New transcripts released on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, by the House Jan. 6 committee reveals Donald Trump and his allies played a direct role in the Nevada Republican Party’s phony elector scheme in 2020. The transcripts show McDonald invoked his Fifth Amendment protection 275 times when he was interviewed in February. (AP Photo/L.E. Baskow, File)

In the Silver State, a half dozen Republicans met in Carson City, Nevada, to organize their own fake elector scheme after the 2020 election.Among them was state GOP chair Michael McDonald, the focus of federal investigators in Nevada.

McDonald’s phone was seized and searched by the FBI in 2022 and he and another elector testified to both the House Jan. 6 committee and for special counsel Jack Smith’s federal investigation.

Both McDonald and the second fake elector, Nevada Republican Party official Jim DeGraffenreid, were given “limited immunity” due to their testimony.

The Nevada scheme was allegedly headed by former state attorney general and GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D)declined to pursue a criminal investigation of McDonald, Laxalt and others.

New Mexico

FILE – New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas talks during a news conference on Feb. 26, 2019, in Albuquerque, N.M. Balderas is asking that changes be made to rules proposed by the U.S. government as it processes damage claims from a historic wildfire sparked by forest managers. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

New Mexico was a last-minute addition to fake elector plans, Smith’s 45-page indictment alleges.Despite being a state that Biden won comfortably — by about 100,000 votes or nearly 10 percent — the state GOP sent its own electors to vote for Trump, citing pending litigation in other states.

The Republican’s five electors were turned away when they attempted to vote in the state capitol of Santa Fe, but they also signed paperwork asserting a false right to make electoral college votes.

Two of those five voters testified for the House Jan. 6 committee last year, and the New Mexico Secretary of State met with Smith’s investigation team last month.

An eventual suit from the Trump campaign contesting New Mexico’s results was purely a pretext for the elector’s scheme, Smith’s indictment alleges.

State Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) started an investigation into the group in January 2022, but like in Michigan, referred the case to federal prosecutors. There has been no public action in either a state or federal investigation since.

Pennsylvania

MANHEIM, PA – OCTOBER 29: Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Governor Doug Mastriano, (L) his wife Rebecca, and (R) Republican candidate for Lt. Governor Carrie DelRosso addresses the media after a rally at Spooky Nook Sports Complex on October 29, 2022 in Manheim, Pennsylvania. Mastriano faces Democratic challenger Josh Shapiro in the November election. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Fake electors in Pennsylvania include 20 Republicans who planned to contest the state’s results in the 2020 election. Among them were former Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.) and the vice chair of the state GOP.

The point person for the group was state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), who went on to be the Republican nominee for Governor in 2022, losing to Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).

But the Pennsylvania electors inserted a line into their signed vote document that makes them unique from other states. Their document reads that the votes would only be valid if they are recognized as “duly elected and qualified electors,” which they were not.

In 2022, Shapiro — then the state attorney general — citing that language, said the group’s actions were likely not criminal and that the state would not investigate them.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during the annual State of the State address Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

Attempts to overturn election results in Wisconsin embroiled Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), whose staff allegedly assisted his state’s slate of fake electors. Johnson has declined any knowledge of the incident.

Ten Wisconsin Republicans signed documents claiming to be electors casting votes for Trump after the 2020 election.

The group drew the ire of Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Friday, who said he wants them prosecuted.

At a press conference Thursday, Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) said his office is tracking the federal investigation into Trump but has not said if the state is investigating the fake elector scheme itself.

Kaul said that the group should be held accountable for their actions and that “further developments” will come.

The fake electors also face a $2.4 million civil lawsuit set to go to trial in September 2024 over their actions.

TAGS 2020 ELECTION FRAUD ARIZONA DANA NESSEL DONALD TRUMP FAKE ELECTORS FAKE ELECTORS FANI WILLIS GEORGIA GEORGIA PROBE HECTOR BALDERAS JACK SMITH JOE BIDEN JOSH KAUL JOSH SHAPIRO LOU BARLETTA MICHAEL MCDONALD MICHIGAN MIKE PENCE NEVADA NEW MEXICO PENNSYLVANIA RON JOHNSON TONY EVERS TRUMP INDICTMENT WISCONSIN

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Congressman Mark Amodei will be recognized by the US Chamber of Commerce for his “sustainable business” advocacy on August 10 at the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce. It marks the evolution of the Chamber of Commerce and :{Mark:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: Eugene Amodei from climate deniers to :{climate pretenders.:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:

Clean energy jobs are now pouring into northern Nevada and Amodei’s district, thanks to the Biden Administration and the Inflation Reduction Act. Yet Amodei and the US Chamber continue :{to dismiss:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: and deny any benefits to our economy, let alone our planet. Not surprising, given :{Amodei’s shaky reputation:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: rooted in moonlighting as a state senator while getting paid to run the Nevada Mining Association, the lobbying arm of Nevada’s:{**largest polluters**:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.

:{Nevada ranks in the top 10 :(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:in the country for clean energy jobs. Just in the last year, more than 11,500 union-based jobs have been created here and 40,000 high paying clean energy jobs are projected in the next 10 years.

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Amodei’s 2nd Congressional District of Nevada, where I’ve lived for the past six decades, has the second highest number of new clean energy jobs and the fourth largest investment at $9.02 billion, according to a :{new report :(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:from Climate Power.

Yet Amodei voted to gut the IRA’s incentives to encourage more production and consumption of electric vehicles, aligning himself with MAGA Republicans whose climate-killing refrain is “drill baby, drill.”

New leadership at the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce has received praise for trying to take it in a different direction. This is welcome news. Past regimes opposed planet-friendly efforts by raising corporate PAC money to defeat candidates who don’t tow the big business-first line.

Contrary to the myth both the national and local Chambers love to spread, their members are not small businesses like Truckee Meadow Herbs on Wells Avenue in Reno or Great Basin Brewery in Sparks. The national Chamber is composed of the largest corporations in the world. The Reno-Sparks Chamber’s members are the largest corporations in our region, many of whom are the big money behind Gov. Joe Lombardo, who last month showed his fealty to fossil fuel profiteers over stabilizing our climate when he :{pulled Nevada out :(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:of the US Climate Alliance.

Reno is the :{fastest-warming city:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: in the US. In the past 40 years, we’ve wiped out :{60% of the world’s wildlife :(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:and :{half of Nevada’s sagebrush:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.

What’s Amodei and the Chamber’s solution? To gaslight us into thinking their greenwashing will make a difference. After all, Amodei belongs to a party bought and paid for by dirty fossil fuel CEO’s, and one of his top donors, :{Honeywell International:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, is a :{greenwashing, fossil-fuel burning profiteer:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.

Perhaps the “sustainability” award for Amodei from the US Chamber makes sense. They work hard to sustain the obscene profits of their corporate donors by keeping climate regulations weak.

As rising temperatures break records this summer, I lament this is the coolest summer my grandkids will ever see in their lives. As long as Amodei and the Chamber call the shots, we won’t have a shot at a livable planet.

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A recording of a vulgar rant by a failed Republican candidate has thrown Nevada's GOP into turmoil.

Newly elected GOP delegate Drew Hirsty was expelled by the state Republican Party Central Committee earlier this month for recording and sharing a video of losing state attorney general candidateMichele Fiore slurring former state party chairwoman Amy Tarkanian as “Ms. Alcoholic” and a “panty dropper after two shots" after she endorsed her Democratic rival, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“[I was] appalled, offended and shocked,” Hirsty said.

He uploaded the video to Google Drive and sent it to fellow Republican Margaret White, who then circulated the video that soon caught the attention of media outlets, and both Hirsty and White expect to be booted from the Clark County GOP over the flap.

“It’s not what I believe Republicans stand for: integrity and class,” said White, a former chief of staff of the Clark County Republican Party. “They just want their small clique of people they can control. … They throw out anybody that disagrees with them.”

Hirsty also recorded video at the same Nov. 15 event of Nevada GOP chairman Michael McDonald criticizing "backstabbing" Republicans like Tarkanian, who endorsed incumbent attorney general Aaron Ford and state treasurer Zach Conine, both Democrats, in the election, and Hirsty said Clark County GOP chairman Jesse Law threatened to "get even," which he denies.

Law won bruising a leadership fight for the county party in 2021 over state Sen. Carrie Buck (R-Henderson), and the Review-Journal obtained video of him at the Jan. 14 central committee meeting calling for a motion to remove Hirsty, which eventually passed 55-45.

“To me, it’s rather destructive to this organization, to the state organization,” Law says in the video. “It’s a big embarrassment and that really bothers me.”

“I don’t want any of this problem, but also I don’t want videos uploaded where we get to be a laughingstock," Law adds. "I want Clark County to be doing great, so anyone involved in trying to upload videos and share with the media to harm us and embarrass us, I didn’t think that this body would want to be a part of that.”

Fiore has since moved from Clark County to Nye County, where she was appointed justice of the peace despite having no judicial experience or even a law degree.

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michele Fiore, a Republican politician, has been appointed to a Nevada judgeship even though she has no prior legal or judicial experience. She has also previously been accused of obstructing an investigation into her own business and once said it’s okay to point a gun at federal officers.

Fiore will fill a seat on the Pahrump Justice Court in Nye County, located about 65 miles west of Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported. County commissioners unanimously appointed her to the judgeship. She will serve on the court through 2024.

She told commissioners that she would oversee the judicial appointment with “integrity and honesty” because she has “been at the end of the political barrel.”

However, it seems she ended up at the end of that barrel largely due to her own fault.

In 2015, Nevada state regulators revoked the license of her home-health business after she refused to show financial records during an investigation of alleged Medicaid fraud, Wonkette noted. That same year, she made statements against transgender people using changing facilities matching their gender identities.

In 2016, she said it was okay to point a gun at law enforcement officers if they point a gun at you first.

“I would never, ever point my firearm at anyone, including an officer of the law. Unless they pointed their firearm at me,” she said in an interview with Las Vegas TV station KLAS. “Now, once you point your firearm at me, I’m sorry, then it becomes self-defense. So whether you’re a stranger, a bad guy, or an officer, and you point your gun at me and you’re gonna shoot me and I have to decide whether it’s my life or your life, I choose my life.”

The Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers called her statement “utterly irresponsible,” “an embarrassment,” and a demonstration of why she’s unfit to hold national office.

Though Fiore was a member of the Nevada Assembly from 2012 to 2016 and a member of the Las Vegas City Council from 2017 until her appointment into the judgeship, she launched a failed 2022 election bid to become the Nevada State Treasurer and a failed 2016 bid to become a state representative in the U.S. House.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/qanon-followers/

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QAnon followers are focused on 'a new project' in swing states

Meaghan Ellis February 11, 2022

QAnon enthusiasts, who believe former President Donald Trump represents some form of new world order, are now focusing on a different plot in hopes of regaining control of the White House.

According to The Guardian, QAnon advocates have turned their attention toward Secretary of State election races in various swing states.So, why do these races have the attention of QAnon followers? They believe these particular races could be the key to ensuring there is not a repeat of the 2020 presidential election. In many swing states, Republican election officials refused to assist Trump in overturning the presidential election.

Now, QAnon believers and far-right extremists are adamant about putting people in place who align with Trump's beliefs. Alex Kaplan, a senior researcher at Media Matters for America who has studied the evolution of conspiracy theories, explained how QAnon's actions could create more problems in the very near future.

“This is the way that QAnon could trigger a constitutional crisis,” said Kaplan. “QAnon is linked to an effort to recruit and elect candidates to positions directly controlling election administrations, and given their ties to harming democracy, that is very concerning.”

Per The Guardian, QAnon's agenda and their strategic plot to control the outcome of elections was detailed by former Republican lawmaker and Trump loyalist, Jim Marchant who is currently running to become a high-ranking election official in Nevada. Marchant revealed the moment he was propositioned by QAnon advocates and QAnon influencer Juan Savin about running for Secretary of State. It was at that moment when he realized those particular election races could be a key to controlling elections.

“I knew right then that they had figured out that we need to take back the secretary of state offices around the country. Not only did they ask me to run, they asked me to put together a coalition of other like-minded secretary of state candidates. I got to work, Juan O Savin helped, and we formed a coalition.”

Savin has also spoken out about the QAnon agenda. In January, Savin also shared details about the supposed "project" the movement had in place. Marchant explained, “We have a project that we are doing helping candidates across the country that we started here in Nevada that has prospered pretty well, with a number of Trump endorsements."

On Sunday, Savin also weighed in on “the secretary of state stuff”, as he boasted that “across the country we are gaining strength rapidly to get back into this game in an effective way. A lot of those offices that they thought they held and weren’t going to matter, we are going to flip those.”...

A recording of a vulgar rant by a failed Republican candidate has thrown Nevada's GOP into turmoil.

Newly elected GOP delegate Drew Hirsty was expelled by the state Republican Party Central Committee earlier this month for recording and sharing a video of losing state attorney general candidate Michele Fiore slurring former state party chairwoman Amy Tarkanian as “Ms. Alcoholic” and a “panty dropper after two shots" after she endorsed her Democratic rival, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“[I was] appalled, offended and shocked,” Hirsty said.

“It’s not what I believe Republicans stand for: integrity and class,” said White, a former chief of staff of the Clark County Republican Party. “They just want their small clique of people they can control. … They throw out anybody that disagrees with them.”

“To me, it’s rather destructive to this organization, to the state organization,” Law says in the video. “It’s a big embarrassment and that really bothers me.”

Fiore has since moved from Clark County to Nye County, where she was appointed justice of the peace despite having no judicial experience or even a law degree.

clark County officials pass resolution declaring the spread of COVID misinformation a 'public health crisis’

Meaghan Ellis

September 22, 2021

Officials in Clark County, Nevada have expressed deep concern about the rapid spread of COVID misinformation campaigns while declaring the issue a "public health crisis."

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/ammon-bundy/

david n kos

One of the consequences of the GOP's sidelong embrace of its extremist elements—from the insurrection denialists and Big Lie gaslighters to the QAnon cultists like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert—is that far-right extremists are now perfectly comfortable identifying as Republicans. In some cases, they're demanding the overthrow of the party's establishment—which can't seem to decide whether to fight back or just succumb willingly to the incoming far-right tide.

Establishment Republicans in Western states are particularly under siege from extremist elements among their voting base. I**n Idaho**, for instance, armed-standoff-guru-turned-pandemic-denialist Ammon Bundy filed paperwork to run for governor, in a race already featuring another leading state "Patriot" movement figure. In:{Nevada,}: an insurgent far-right group organized on social media and led by Proud Boys members are attempting an open hostile takeover of the Clark County GOP, the state's largest county-level Republican organization.

Bundy's filing is rich in irony. For starters, he is currently banned from the Idaho Statehouse in Boise after his two ejections and arrests for defying masking requirements, for which he is currently standing trial. For another, as KTVB notes, Bundy himself is not even registered to vote in Idaho, and has apparently never done so in the five years or so that he has lived in Emmett.

He also named himself the treasurer of his campaign, which means that he will have to refile the paperwork, according to the Idaho Secretary of State's office, which tweeted out an explanation: "Because a treasurer must be a registered Idaho voter, Ammon Bundy will either need to register and refile or name a new treasurer by refiling. IDSOS staff have notified him as such."

The Republican field to replace incumbent Governor Brad Little (who has not announced whether he will seek re-election) is already large, and Bundy's competition in the primary already features another leading "Patriot" movement figure, Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin,who announced her candidacy last week. While Bundy was probably the earliest far-right figure in Idaho to take up the cause of opposing COVID-19-related public-health restrictions, McGeachin—who has supported Bundy and his fellow standoff-loving "Patriots" steadfastly from her office in Boise—has also been on the pandemic-denialist bandwagon.

McGeachin appeared alongside Bundy at one anti-restriction rally in Boise. More notoriously, she appeared in a video in which she brandished a handgun and a Bible while sitting in the driver's seat of a pickup, railing against coronavirus restrictions.

The political insurgency inside Clark County's NV] GOP was reported Friday by Rory Appleton at the *Las Vegas Review-Journal*,who explained that a group of far-right activists with deep ties to the Proud Boys are positioning themselves to take over the county Republican leadership. Some of its members, meanwhile, are alleged to have threatened a number of prominent Republicans.

The group, Appleton reported, organized online—primarily using the encrypted chat app Telegram—while reveling in anti-Semitic and white-nationalist memes and rhetoric. "Two Republican women in public office told the Review-Journal they've been threatened by leaders of the fringe movement, as did the current board of the Clark County party, which is hiring security for a crucial meeting Tuesday," the story reads.

Calling itself the "Republican Chamber of Commerce" (despite lacking ties to any known GOP organization), the far-right group first made its presence felt last month when it organized a late surge in votes favoring the censure of Barbara Cegavske, the state's Republican Secretary of State, for refusing to play along with attempts to overturn the 2020 election results based on Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Since then, it has been preparing to provide a similar wave of votes to sweep three of their three leading figures—Rudy Clai, Matt Anthony and Paul Laramie—into the leadership of the Clark County GOP. The group has no record of doing business anywhere in the state of Nevada, and has no connection to any of the known chamber or Republican groups already established in Nevada.

Yet its website appears to be a nominally mainstream GOP group. Its primary emblem resembles the Republican National Committee's logo but inverted, with a red elephant on a white background encircled in red with the letters "RCC" and "Republican Chamber of Commerce" within.

Anthony has achieved a level of media notoriety as one of Las Vegas' most prominent Proud Boys, though he insists the local chapter is nonviolent and nonracist. After the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, he defended the people arrested and warned against a law-enforcement crackdown on "Patriots": "They're basically going all in on tyranny, guys. … They're watching. It's to be expected. They're the enemy. They're going to shut down our ability to communicate."

As it happens, Anthony is also a fugitive: He is the subject of an arrest warrant from the state of Michigan after he broke probation by moving to Nevada and then refusing to return after Nevada declined to oversee his probation, all stemming from his 2012 arrest on a drug charge.

The group's Telegram channel—owned by Anthony, and administered by Clai—is titled "Keep Nevada Open," apparently an offshoot of a Facebook group with the same name that boasted 17,000 members and organized anti-masking and other pandemic-related protests. Appleton describes a review of the channel's contents by the Clark County GOP executive board, led by chief of staff Richard MacLean:

MacLean showed his fellow board members several pictures and videos posted within the group, though not specifically by Anthony and Clai.

One photo blamed the 9/11 terrorist bombings on Jews. Another video featured a long clip of an Adolf Hitler speech and Nazi soldier marches. Some featured cartoon characters with negative Jewish stereotypes, and one photo featured messages written on dollar bills.

A post even poked fun at Republicans, claiming they seemed to be shocked at certain current events while white nationalists were thrilled by them.

The board promptly ejected the three men from the party. However, on Thursday, 10 people including Anthony and Clai filed a lawsuitagainst both the county and state party central committees, accusing them of illegally boxing them out of Clark County GOP meetings. They claim Clai and Anthony are heading up an alternative leadership slate, and are running against a mainstream ticket headed up by state Sen. Carrie Buck.

Despite the pushback by local Republican officials, the extremist elements remain emboldened in no small part because national-level Republicans have shown their eagerness to ignore the radicalism and even embrace it. Certainly, the local far-right leaders are confident that the party's base supports them, and not the establishment players.

"We have the numbers, and they don't, so they have to play dirty," Anthony said in an interview Thursday. "It's that simple."

McGeachin's campaign signs feature the hashtag #IAmIdaho. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are at a pivotal moment in history, not just for Idaho but for our nation," McGeachin said.

Bundy told NBC News on Monday that, despite the filings, he hasn't formally announced his candidacy, but is preparing to build a campaign organization.

"The people of Idaho are very freedom-minded," Bundy said. "I had never desired (to run for office), but I knew as early as 2017 that I would run for governor of Idaho."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

DOE SHIPPED NUCLEAR WASTE TO NEVADA FOR YEARS The U.S.Department of Energy shipped potentially dangerous nuclear material incorrectly labeled as low-level radioactive waste into Nevada for several years, the governor said. [HuffPost]

Officials are outraged after Trump administration secretly ships ‘weapons-grade plutonium’ to an unwitting state

by Cody Fenwick January 30, 2019

Nevada officials fumed Wednesday after the Trump administration revealed in a court filing that it has secretly shipped radioactive plutonium to the state despite local objections, the Nevada Independent reported.…

palast https://kpfa.org/episode/talkies-october-17-2018/

kobach stole primary from gov,

challenged a million signatures?! caneled ballots, 10k privsionnal/placibo ballot

nevada

https://kpfa.org/episode/talkies-october-17-2018/

2018

Nevada could become a leader on renewable energy with the election of Democrat Steve Sisolak, who made support for solar power part of his campaign. Sisolak, chair of the county commission in the county that includes Las Vegas, defeated Adam Laxalt, the state attorney general, who had sued the Obama administration over environmental issues and had criticized Sisolak's positions on renewable energy. Sisolak will replace term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, whose tenure included a drastic reduction in support for rooftop solar that was so unpopular the policy was reversed

https://www.ecowatch.com/rooftop-solar-2457456703.html

How Utilities Are Trying to Slow Down Rooftop Solar

By David Pomerantz

The New York Times reported earlier this month about how utilities around the country, and their trade group the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), have worked to weaken rooftop solar policies in an attempt to stave off the threat to their business model.

The article featured some of Energy and Policy Institute's reporting, including :{our :(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{expose:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: of Brian McCormack, former EEI executive and current Chief of Staff to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, for his role in attacking rooftop solar while at EEI, as well as our uncovering of Florida utilities' deceptive anti-solar ballot initiative in that state last year.

Some important aspects of the story of utilities' efforts did not make it into the Times coverage though:

Upset About EEI? There's a Good Chance You're Funding Them

The Times exposed the central role played by the Edison Electric Institute in driving the utility industry's anti-rooftop solar strategy:

At a January 2016 board meeting of the Edison institute, attended by chief executives of the country's largest utilities, Thomas R. Kuhn, the group's president, counseled against complacency.

"Years, ago, I think a lot of people said, 'That's not going to come to our area,'" he said, according to a recording of his remarks made available by a participant. "And now we see it in each and every state," he said.

"EEI is happy to come to any state at any time," he added. "We have two dozen states we are working on."

If you're angry about EEI, here's some bad news for you: there's a high chance that you're paying the salaries of the trade association's executives.

Our report *Paying for Politics* detailed how the nation's investor-owned electric utility customers are subsidizing EEI via their bills every month. Investor-owned utilities embed their EEI membership dues into rates, forcing their customers to pay for a policy agenda constructed primarily for the benefit of utilities' shareholders, not their customers. Since most customers have no choice about their utility, there's not much they can do about it.

Despite Efforts, Utilities Cannot Stop Distributed Solar Energy

And here's some better news: The Times story focused onIndiana, where utilities scored a victory when they lobbied to pass a law that would unravel net metering, the policy that dictates how much a utility must pay solar owners for the excess electricity they sell back to the grid. But another state reveals how the utilities' strategy can, and often will, backfire.

In Nevada, utility NV Energy succeeded in 2015 at lobbying regulators to reduce net metering payments. The industry perceived it as a victory that other utilities could learn from—in January 2017, EEI and NV Energy announced that Tony Sanchez, an NV Energy senior vice-president who helped lead the utility's efforts in the net metering debates, was taking on a "key loaned executive" role with EEI.

But while the utility industry celebrated what they thought was a big win for NV Energy, Nevadans became furious at the lost solar jobs and the utility's influence at slowing down the growth of a technology that people from across the political spectrum love. The utility's victory was short-lived. In June 2017, the legislature unanimously passed, and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval signed, a bill to restore the old net metering rates.

Not only that, but last November, the state's voters passed by a large margin a ballot initiative to break up NV Energy's monopoly entirely—political observers in the state perceive the amendment's success in part as a referendum on NV Energy's unpopularity in the wake of the company's attacks on solar.

The Nevada story should serve as a warning for utilities: In places where they try to attack popular pro-solar policies, a popular backlash risks weakening their political capital with regulators and legislators.

In the long run, utilities have even bigger problems than their political fortunes. Even where they win short-term victories on policies like net metering, the combination of rooftop solar panels plus batteries, which are getting cheaper faster than anyone expected, will enable more and more customers to buy less and less electricity from their utilities. Dave Roberts of Vox recently authored a piece on the topic aptly headlined: Utilities fighting against rooftop solar are only hastening their own doom.

As Roberts writes, quoting a recent McKinsey study:

"In a low-cost storage environment," McKinsey writes, the rate structures utilities are monkeying around with "are unlikely to be effective at mitigating load losses." In other words, customers are still going to keep generating more of their own power.

The Times piece was important to expose how utilities are coming after solar. But it's worth remembering that in the long run, they won't stop distributed renewable energy, and will be better served learning to co-exist with it than to keep fighting it.

fs4ppl

Nevada just became the 19th state to pass a resolution calling on Congress to propose a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to overturn Citizens United and to reclaim our democracy. On Thursday afternoon, the Nevada state assembly passed SJR 4, urging Congress to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution to allow the regulation of political contributions and expenditures.

We are now halfway to the required number of states to ratify this amendment!

Casino Magnate Wants to Kill Bill That Would Make Nevada a Renewable Energy Powerhouse

By David Pomerantz

The Nevada Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would dramatically increase the growth of renewable energy in the state, but Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and major donor to Donald Trump, is attempting to prevent the bill from becoming law.

The bill, AB 206, would ensure that Nevada gets 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2040. AB 206 passed the assembly with bipartisan support by a margin of 30 to 12, but it must now pass the Senate and be signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Adelson owns the Las Vegas Sands casino giant, and is known in national political circles for the massive amounts of money he has plowed into Republican coffers; he spent $100 million in the 2012 election cycle, and then donated $35 million to the super PAC that supported Donald Trump's general election campaign last year, plus another $5 million to Trump's inauguration.

Given Adelson's support for conservative politicians, clean energy supporters considered it a happy coup in 2016 when the Sands Corporation threw money behind a ballot initiative that would allow electric customers to defect from the monopoly utility NV Energy.

Sands was the biggest bankroller of the committee that backed the ballot initiative, Nevadans for Affordable, Clean Energy Choices. The company didn't shy away from saying that their support for the initiative was motivated by a desire to use electricity from cleaner sources than NV Energy had on offer, garnering it fawning press in Nevada and globally.

"… The company maintains a strong desire to purchase and use the cleanest and most cost efficient energy available on the open market," a Sands spokesperson said in a statement about its support for the ballot initiative.

Adelson Pulls a Bait and Switch on Renewable Energy

Now, however, it's clear that while Adelson may want Sands to have the ability to defect from NV Energy, his motives were not as green as advertised last year.

Sands testified last month against AB 206, along with Wynn Resorts and the Nevada Resort Association (NRA). Why would Adelson, who spent all of 2016 saying that he wanted Sands to power with renewable energy, now be lobbying against legislation to move Nevada in that very direction?

The answer is likely that the bill language not only holds NV Energy to the increased renewable energy standard, but also any companies that defect from the utility, which could soon be Sands.

Adelson seems to want to maintain his company's unfettered ability to buy not only renewable energy, but also as much natural gas as he wants, for as long as he wants, as well.

"We feel that this just isn't the time to codify these mandates," Sands lobbyist Chase Whittemore said about the bill, according to the Nevada Independent. NV Energy also fought the bill, introducing unsuccessful amendments to neuter it.

Is Adelson Funding a New Dark Money Group to Kill Nevada Renewable Energy Growth?

The lobbying against AB 206 by Sands, Wynn, the Resort Association and NV Energy did not seem to slow down the bill's progress in the assembly, but the casino operators and NV Energy may have another trick up their sleeves: a new dark-money group is making a final two-week push to kill the bill in the Senate or on Gov. Sandoval's desk. The Independent reported this week:

"A new nonprofit that does not disclose its donors plans to spend six figures in the last two weeks of the Legislature to try to defeat a renewable energy measure opposed by most gaming companies."

The non-profit, called "Secure Nevada's Future," registered with Nevada as a non-profit organization in April, listing Texas as its qualifying state. Its list of officers is due May 31. The group seems to have a Facebook page which also became active in April.

As long as Secure Nevada's Future refuses to disclose its donors, it's impossible to know if Adelson, Wynn, NV Energy or some other mystery opponents of increased renewable energy is funding the effort, but longtime Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston wrote that "it's a reasonable assumption that major businesses are funding the operation."

Ralston reported that the one person publicly associated with the group as its executive director, Chris Young, used to work for Chris Carr while at the RNC; Carr now runs Wynn's political operation. Carr had previously run a non-profit, "Engage Nevada" that received significant funding from Adelson personally, as well as from NV Energy.

Conflict of Interest Among Nevada Resort Association Lobbyists

While Adelson's Sands Corporation tries to kill the strong renewable energy standard, another casino company, the MGM Grand Corporation, has actually shown that its commitment to renewable energy is more than just greenwashing. The company came out publicly in support of AB 206 earlier this week.

Like Wynn and Sands, MGM Grand is a member of the Nevada Resort Association—more than 10 of its properties are named as NRA member resorts, and MGM is listed on the NRA's board, along with Wynn.

But despite MGM's support for renewable energy growth, the NRA has sided with Wynn, Sands and NV Energy. The internal politics that drove that decision aren't public, but it's possible that some conflicts of interest among the NRA's lobbyists may be a contributing factor.

Carson City is a small town, and lobbyists commonly represent multiple interests, but a review of lobbyists for NV Energy, MGM Grand, Wynn, Sands, the NRA and Caesars revealed that the only overlap was between NV Energy and the NRA, and that overlap was significant: Of 12 lobbyists listed for NV Energy, seven are also lobbyists for the NRA. Those lobbyists are Morgan Baumgartner, Pete Ernaut, Greg Ferraro, Lorne Malkiewich, Nivk Vassiliadis, Nicole Willis-Grimes and Paul Young.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/27/headlines/las_vegas_review_journal_columnist_quits_after_being_banned_from_writing_on_sheldon_adelson

http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/05/09/we-were-booming-and-now-we-re-dead-how-nevada-s-solar-industry-bright-spot-turned-dark

boom dead

Louise Helton, owner of One Sun Solar Electric in Las Vegas, says that since January her company is doing more work removing solar panels from rooftops than installing them.

But at least she’s still in business, unlike many solar entrepreneurs in Nevada. She’s had to diversify into LED lighting installation and other sources of income.

“During the recession, rooftop solar was the bright spot in the Nevada economy,” Helton tells DeSmog. “We were booming. And now we’re dead.”

It was a decision by the Public Utility Commission of Nevada (PUCN) in December that delivered a fatal blow to rooftop solar in the sunniest state in the U.S.

By removing a key incentive for rooftop solar customers — net metering — the PUC made it prohibitively expensive for existing and future solar customers to use solar panels to generate part or all or their electricity needs.

And it turned electricity-generating rooftop panels from a net-plus for homeowners to a technological albatross, at least for the near future.

“You have people making decisions to buy these panels with fixed incomes,” Helton says.

“Seniors have tried to make the right decision to preserve their future dollars. All of this is impacting them. Now the value of your greatest asset, a home, and the equity, for solar panels to present themselves as something that was a huge asset, now they’re the opposite. It’s devastating.”

At the end of April, a subcommittee of Governor Brian Sandoval’s Nevada energy task force said that existing Nevada solar customers should be grandfathered in under an old rate structure, which would grant them a cheaper power rate until 2035.

That marks an about-face from the most controversial provision of the PUCN’s December decision.

But if the full task force agrees to grandfather existing customers, and makes the PUCN agree to the same, it won’t do anything to revive rooftop solar, an industry that was dominated by smaller entrepreneurs.

The fact that Sandoval convened the Task Force in the first place, solar advocates say, suggests that this former utility energy lawyer knows his appointed PUCN members may have inflicted lasting damage on the solar energy industry in Nevada, something that an aide to Sandoval admitted.

End of Net Metering

What upended Nevada’s solar energy industry was the PUCN’s decision to change the rules for net metering.

Net metering lets customers bank credit for excess electricity that goes into the grid during the daytime, then pull out the same amount of energy — a kilowatt for kilowatt exchange — when they need it.

Solar customers that don’t generate enough electricity must pay Nevada Energy (NVE), the only electricity utility in the state, for the difference. Net metering has allowed solar to thrive and encouraged people to make those investments for their homes and businesses, solar industry advocates say.

Under the old rules, NVE paid customers about 11 cents per kilowatt hour for energy they returned to the grid. Homeowners could typically save 10 to 20 percent on their energy bill, though some solar customers have reported seeing their bill drop to single dollars during some months.

No residential and commercial solar customers were getting rich, despite what some solar detractors have argued. Because customers are regulated on how big they can build a system, based on historic twelve months of power use, they can only build a system that can produce what they used in the last twelve months.

There was a benefit to the utility, too: no line loss. A customer can send out one kilowatt of energy that goes directly to his nearest neighbor.

The end of net metering not only eliminated most of the savings rooftop solar customers enjoyed, it also created a revenue stream for NVE at the expense of those customers.

NV Energy Takes Bigger Solar Cut

Every kilowatt generated on a Nevadan’s roof is one less kilowatt NVE can sell. At least that was the case until the new rate structure went into effect.

Under the new rules, solar customers are put in a new rate classification. Initially, their connection charge would go up by five dollars a month, under a tiered structure. After four years, they will pay $38 a month just to be connected to the grid. That’s before they’re charged for the energy they consume.

Exactly how much more solar energy customers will pay under the new rate system remains to be seen. The hottest weather hasn’t begun yet and, come June, residents will have a better idea. But there’s widespread fear that they will be paying quite a lot more.

What’s angered Nevada solar customers is that NVE is now monetizing the kilowatt hour (kWh) value. Whereas under net metering there was no monetization (just a kilowatt-for-kilowatt exchange), now NVE will value the kWh generated by a solar customer at less than what they’ll sell at full retail.

Scott Shaw, director of research and commercial development for Go Solar, an energy efficiency and solar installation company in Las Vegas, tells DeSmog that solar customers will be subsidizing other ratepayers for the benefit of the utility.

“When a solar customer sends energy to the grid it is during peak demand times. If you want to just look at the value of energy, at peak demand NVE is paying triple to five times what they would pay on the open market. Now NVE is guaranteed to pay two cents per kilowatt during demand time and sell it back to customers at 33 cents.”

Shaw and other solar advocates say there is no cost shift to non-solar customers — everything is already paid for fully. NVE gets paid fully for that one kWh of solar that it didn’t generate, that was provided at peak daytime hours, with no coal or gas or employees or long runs of wire involved — essentially at no cost to NVE.

Rooftop solar owners say they want the option of getting that one kWh back later at night when they need it, without being charged more for it, and without NVE charging them or their neighbors a premium for it.

Like in the good old days of 2015.

Who Pays For Solar?

In 2013, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway purchased NVE for $5.6 billion.

“Owning utilities isn't a way to get rich,” Buffett has said. His statement may be accurate, solar advocates say, unless the utility is a monopoly and can access a new revenue source.

In this case that revenue source is solar energy. And if homeowners and businesses have already made the investment in capturing that energy, even better.

Solar advocates in Nevada insist the PUC decision to end net metering is a power grab to control solar rather than kill it.

In 2013, when Warren Buffet was preparing to buy NVE, bill SB123 was making its way through the Nevada legislature. SB123 required NVE South to:

Retire or eliminate at least 800 megawatts of coal-fired electric generation by December 31, 2019
Construct, acquire, or contract for 350 megawatts of renewables capacity through solicitations issued between December 2014 and December 2017; and
Construct or acquire 550 megawatts of company-owned electric generating capacity that can be renewable or conventional capacity.

With the passage of SB123, NVE was able to take their remaining coal-fired power plants offline and replace the power with solar. And they could own part of that solar field instead of making power purchase agreements with solar farms.

NVE got permission to pass on the costs of building those solar farms to the ratepayers. Ratepayers would help offset the value they were losing by taking coal-fired plants offline before the benefits of the coal-fired plants had been utilized.

But Scott Shaw says that NVE ran into a conundrum. Suddenly the demand for extra power was reduced because of the increase in solar customers.

According to Shaw:

“A utility’s profit is regulated on rates for selling the product. For transmission and generation, it’s not regulated by the PUC. When you have a bunch of rooftop solar putting out energy during peak demand, NVE will find it very hard to justify generation stations or new solar fields in the desert and transmission to support it when they go to the PUCN to ask for money. Where any utility makes their most revenue is in building generation facilities and transmission lines.”

Shaw and other industry watchers said that, not long after Buffet’s purchase of NVE, the PR campaign kicked in to denigrate solar customers as energy freeloaders. And not just in Nevada.

During an interview with CNBC in February, Buffett argued that when solar customers don't pay to maintain the power grid it leaves everyone else to pick up the tab.

That’s the argument the PUC used when changing its rate structure for solar customers. The commission justified its move to end net metering with a study designed to look at the impact of solar on non-solar customers. The study concluded solar customers were not contributing enough money to maintain the electrical grid, and they were actually making non-solar customers pay more to make up the difference.

Louise Helton tells DeSmog the PUC cost shift study was part of an orchestrated campaign by the utility and their backers to discredit and undermine net metering and that a recent third party analysis refutes some of the cost shift study’s conclusions.

“The third party analysis showed that in a cost of service study the methodology should have at least 11 different points,” Helton says. “PUC only looked at two of them in the cost shift study, avoided energy costs and line loss. They didn’t look at avoided capacity and several other very important points that would show solar customers are not benefitting at the expense of non-solar customers.”

Anti-solar commercials made by Solar Energy Fairness were dropped onto the Las Vegas and Reno TV markets, presumably to siphon off energy from the ballot initiative signature gathering.

“Big rooftop solar’s plan forces Nevada families who don’t have solar panels to pay higher power bills to subsidize rooftop solar,” intones the narrator.

The ads are “an attempt to pit ratepayer against ratepayer,” claims Frank Rieger, founder and president of Las Vegas rooftop solar company Sol-Up.

“They say the non-solar ratepayers are paying for the solar ratepayers, subsidizing the solar system owners. The opposite is true. If there wasn’t any solar in Nevada, then the utility could do whatever they want. Solar is the only guarantee to the non-solar rate payers that their prices will stay stable. Because solar is the only competition now for the monopoly (NVE).”

Nevada Hemorrhages Solar Jobs

Since January, national rooftop solar companies SolarCity and Sunrun have stopped seeking new business in the state and laid off hundreds of workers. The few small companies left are trying to stay above water and telling potential customers to be patient and wait out the storm.

“My feeling is 80 percent of all (small solar) companies are gone,” Frank Rieger tells DeSmog.

“But the worst problem is not the new regulation,” Rieger says. “It is the negativity. Everyone is talking down solar as if it doesn’t make sense anymore. Which is stupid. Regulations only regulate power back into the grid. Nobody can regulate what you create. If you never feed back into the grid your financial benefits are the same.”

SolarCity and others are continuing to challenge the changes to net metering, both in the courts and at the ballot box.

SolarCity and local companies faced a setback in March after a Carson City judge ruled to disqualify a ballot measure that would restore more generous rates for rooftop solar customers. Judge James Russell said his ruling was not about the merits of solar but about what he saw as the flawed framing of the measure.

Nevada solar companies and allies are now collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would restore net metering if voters pass it in November. Unlike with referenda, ballot initiative language isn’t scrutinized by a judge.

Still, it’s an uphill slog even if the initiative does pass in November, according to a spokesperson for Bring Back Solar, the activist group pushing for the initiative. If voters say yes, the initiative must be considered by the state legislature when it convenes next year. And the legislature can change anything.

If they change one word, the initiative goes back to the people for another vote, meaning that the soonest it would go into effect would be July 1, 2017.

Solar companies left in the state would then have to limp along for at least one more year.

Brighter Days Ahead For Solar?

The residential solar market is booming in the U.S. with a 66 percent increase between 2014 and 2015. Until the end of last year, Nevada was riding the crest of that wave.

In 2015, the Solar Foundation reported over 8,000 jobs in solar in Nevada and it ranked number one in solar jobs per capita.

This year will be very different. And Nevada may not be the last state to kill solar, at least temporarily.

Though solar advocates recently preserved incentives in California, anotherbattle over residential solar incentives is heating up in Arizona.

There is one wild card in the game: battery technology. Many experts say that, at least right now, from a financial standpoint it doesn’t make much sense to install a rooftop solar array, which typically runs between $15,000 and $30,000, even with a federal incentive that can give them a 30 percent tax credit on the panel price.

But once the price of battery storage becomes more attractive for energy-generating households, utility rates could be irrelevant. New research shows that costs are falling fast enough for battery storage capacity, and that technology will soon be cheap enough for households with existing rooftop solar systems.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/29/rooftop-solar-wars/ CPUC supports

The fierce counterattack by utilities against the disruptive surge of rooftop solar peaked this month on the West Coast. California’s big utilities successfully petitioned for increased “exit fees” for cities or counties leaving the utility to purchase electricity for their residents on the open market—typically obtaining greener power with equal or lower rates. (Marin County is offering its residents a renewables mix ranging from 50-100 percent, at an average rate $3/month lower than what PG&E, the previous monopoly, would charge).

The fierce counterattack by utilities against the disruptive surge of rooftop solar peaked this month on the West Coast.

The utilities argued that the increase—in Marin’s case a doubling—was warranted by an established formula, because PG&E had long term power contracts entered into to meet the needs of its former customers. But the Public Utility Commission (PUC) denied California’s private utilities dramatic increases they sought in fees charged utility customers using rooftop solar.

But next door, in Nevada, with the highest percentage of solar energy of any state in the union, state regulators were more generous to the state’s utilities. First they levied $126 million in exit fees on three casinos seeking to negotiate their own direct power purchases. Then gave Nevada Energy (owned by Warren Buffett) an enormous increase in residential rooftop solar fees, while drastically cutting what the utility pays those customers when they feed electrons back into the grid. More shockingly, these changes were initially retroactive to some 10,000+ Nevada households who had already leased solar and were stuck with the costs.

Effectively the new rules make rooftop solar no longer competitive in Nevada, where companies like SolarCity had located both training facilities and major investments. (Which the company announced it would have to shut down along with laying off much of its workforce.)

Since SolarCity board member and investor Elon Musk chose to build his battery Gigafactory in Nevada, making him the state’s biggest new job creator and since both Republican Gov. Mike Sandoval and Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid have made Nevada’s renewable energy success a center-piece of their politics, the stunning slap the Nevada PUC took at rooftop solar came out of the blue.

The response was rapid. As more companies announced lay-offs and scale backs, a coalition led by former Republican Gov. Mike List launched a ballot measure campaign to reverse the PUC attack on rooftop solar. The Nevada PUC announced it would consider reversing the portion of its fee hike retroactive to existing solar customers. And Nevada Power itself said that it favored grandfathering in existing customers.

The battle heated up. Wynn casinos sued the PUC over the exit fee. Perhaps heartened by the welcome that Nevada Energy found at the Nevada PUC, California’s three investor owned utilities turned up the heat on the rooftop threat, asking the California PUC to reject its own staff recommendations for modest additional fees on rooftop users and instead kill rooftop solar by adopting fees akin to those in Nevada. The commission, Thursday, by a narrow 3-2 vote rebuffed the utilities, and followed its staff recommendation.

So what’s going on? California’s utilities long ago embraced renewables. Nevada Energy boasts some of the cheapest solar energy contracts in the nation. Why is this the latest focus for a utility vs. solar struggle that has previously burst out in much more conservative territory like Arizona and Florida?

Utilities don’t mind that solar is renewable, zero carbon and enjoys free fuel—as long as they own it. But solar is also modular and decentralized, which they hate. They don’t want to compete with their own customers. Rooftop threatens both sunk utility investments in centralized fossil power plants (natural gas on the West Coast, coal elsewhere) and their rigid, “big to small—guaranteed return on capital” business model.

Above a certain scale, rooftop solar will force utilities both to retire expensive central station power plants they want in their rate base and to transform their business model to accommodate the small generator to large grid electron flow which rooftop solar enables (and requires).

Examine the utility passion to hold on to old power plants. U.S. electrical demand is flat, not growing. Until electric vehicles usage explodes, it’s not likely ever to grow. There is a fundamental national consensus that we need to reduce the amount of fossil fuel burned by the electrical sector. A lot of coal plants are going to be shut down, displaced by renewables. But utilities had become very deft over the years at keeping such plants open not just for their intended 40 year life span, but virtually forever. (More than half of the U.S. coal fired units are more than 50 years old and 30 were built before the Second World War). So they fight back. And with sufficiently rapid growth of efficiency, demand management, solar and wind, the need for even recently built natural gas plants is going to dwindle.

The stand-off between the utilities and climate advocates is quite simple; the arithmetic of global warming (and the commitments the U.S. made in Paris) means that power plants the utilities want to profit from of must shut down instead. Rooftop solar accelerates the need for those retirements. This means lower profits.

For society as a whole, this is merely one example of a core climate challenge: cutting emissions requires accelerating the rate at which old, carbon intensive technologies are replaced by new, cleaner ones—“stranding” not just the coal and oil reserves, but also the power plants, factories, airplane fleets and refineries they powered. The owners of those facilities don’t want them stranded and fight to keep them operating.

But stranding is not just a problem for fossil fuels. Going forward, clean, renewable energy, even if it is cheaper, is more capital intensive than the coal and oil it displaces. Investors, whether Southern California Edison or a rooftop solar customer, want a guarantee that the productive lifetime of these assets will be long enough to recover the investment. So the tension between the need to provide reasonable certainty to investors in energy facilities and the simultaneous need to retire and replace them with cleaner technologies faster and faster is real. (Yet another reason for making sure that all new energy infrastructure is zero carbon—we won’t be pressured to strand it prematurely).

For utilities this transition to new, low carbon electrons can only be managed if they choose to compete in the new marketplace for distributed solar. So far they have mostly refused, bitterly clinging to their old centralized model. But the capo del capi of the private utility world, the Southern Company, has taken a different track. When Georgia opened up its rooftop solar market, Southern launched its own branded rooftop solar platform laying the ground work for the existing utility, taking advantage of their low cost of capital and trusted customer brand, to dominate the rooftop space, rather than ceding it to newcomers like Sunrun or Sungevity. Southern CEO Tom Fanning made it clear in announcing this new venture that Southern had no intention of letting outsiders come into its historic service territory and poach the rooftop business unchallenged.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/why-did-sheldon-adelson-buy-nevadas-largest-newspaper/421035/

http://www.alternet.org/education/nevadas-new-voucher-plan-designed-bankrupt-public-schools

7/15

Nevada is one of our nation’s 24 one-party, all Republican states. Writing for the Washington Post, Lyndsey Layton and Emma Brown note that, “In January, Republicans took control of the Nevada legislature and the governor’s mansion for the first time since 1929, generating the political momentum to enact the country’s most expansive voucher plan. ...Starting next school year, any parent in Nevada can pull a child from the state’s public schools and take tax dollars with them, giving families the option to use public money to pay for private or parochial school or even for home schooling… Nevada’s law is singular because all of the state’s 450,000 K-12 public school children—regardless of income—are eligible to take the money to whatever school they choose.” A child must be enrolled in a public school for at least 100 days in order to qualify.

Layton and Brown report that the new Nevada voucher bill was developed with the assistance of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the foundation Jeb Bush launched in 2008, but from which he resigned at the end of 2014 to prepare for his presidential run. The Foundation’s chief executive Patricia Levesque describes Nevada’s new voucher bill: “This is the wave of the future. In all aspects of our life, we look for ways to customize and give individuals more control over their path and destiny…. This is a fundamental shift in how we make decisions about education.”

The Education Law Center recently circulated an analysis of Nevada’s new school vouchers from Educate Nevada Now, a statewide organization that promotes public education:

“The ESA (Education Savings Account) law requires the ‘statewide average basic support per pupil’—$5,100 per student and $5,710 for low-income and students with disabilities—be deposited into each ESA (Education Savings Account) from local district budgets, a process that will divert, over time, substantial resources from the public schools. Studies have shown that Nevada substantially underfunds K-12 public education… ESAs will trigger an outflow of funds from already inadequate school district budgets, beginning in the 2015-16 school year… As children leave public schools with ESA funds, some of the costs to educate those students will leave with them. But ESAs will cause a deficit for the local district, given the fixed costs of operating the school system for all children… ESAs also create instability in district and school budgets. Districts will not know how many students will exit and how much money will be taken out of the budget during the school year. This unpredictability will make it difficult to manage public school budgets, as local administrators won’t know how many teachers and staff to hire… or how to allocate funds to provide sufficient resources to schools throughout the school year.”

Nevada is making the vouchers for over $5,000 available to any family, while most other states with voucher programs reserve the vouchers for students living in poverty. The worry is that beneficiaries of this new program may well be upper income families who will use the vouchers as partial scholarships for expensive private schools. Educate Nevada Now explains:

“The ESA law has no limit on the income of households that can obtain ESA funds. There is only a handful of private schools in Nevada with tuition low enough to be covered by $5,100 or $5,710, the annual ESA amount. ESAs are designed to be a ‘subsidy’ by more affluent families who can already afford to send their children to selective private and religious schools. Conversely, ESAs are insufficient for students from low-income families, and those who need more costly English language instruction or special education services. At-risk students will stay in the public schools, therefore, increasing the segregation of students based on race, socioeconomic status, disability, English language proficiency, and other factors in those schools.”

Expansion of school choice very often operates by providing escapes for able children and leaving the students with greatest needs in what become public school districts of last resort.

The law was passed without attention to racial or economic discrimination and without any protection for equity:

“Unlike Nevada public schools, the private and religious schools accepting ESA funds are not prohibited from discriminating based on race, gender or disability…. (T)he private institutions… that participate in the ESA program are exempt from the most basic protections that prevent discrimination of disadvantaged and vulnerable student populations. Finally, the private for-profit or non-profit education providers that accept ESA funds can use their admissions rules, including competitive pretesting, transcript evaluation and letters of recommendation. These schools and entities are free to select students based on who they decide fits their religious or secular mission, culture and programs.”

The Education Law Center’s national 2015 school funding analysis,"Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card,"ranks Nevada’s public school funding level 40th of the 50 states, and awards Nevada an “F” grade for its highly inequitable funding distribution. In a recent post, Jennifer Berkshire, who blogs as EduShyster, commented on the likely impact of Nevada’s voucher plan on Nevada’s already poorly funded public schools: “Speaking of overcrowding and deterioration (note that I’m bolding these for emphasis), it seems like building new off-ramps for kids who are fortunate enough to have more than $5,700 in their backpacks won’t only leave problems like overcrowding and deterioration unaddressed, but will actually leave the majority of kids in Nevada’s schools worse off.”

Before retiring, Jan Resseger staffed advocacy and programming to support public

vs joe heck TP

We need you now in Nevada, Poraig –

The pro-outsourcing U.S. Chamber of Commerce just launched its first ad blitz against Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto this week – one week after The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report downgraded her chances of winning to a “Pure Toss-up.”

It’s a repeat play from the Chamber’s ruthless attacks against us in New Hampshire last year. This right-wing group will spend anything to inundate Nevada with lies, defeat Catherine and solidify the Republican Senate majority.

state study disputes solar BS

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/18/zombie-attack-rooftop-solar-michael-brune/

2014 JCN $ to win AG:

gov http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/02/3571238/fighting-climate-change-without-blame/

NV Energy has announced that it will close three of its four coal-fired units at the Reid Gardner power plant in southern Nevada by the end of this year, and the fourth by 2019. The Sierra Club has worked for years with the Moapa Band of Paiutes to retire heavily polluting Reid Gardner, which sits next door to the Moapa Paiute reservation. Soon the tribe will build a 200-megawatt solar array -- the first commercial solar project on Native American lands -- from which the city of Los Angeles will be purchasing enough energy to power over 110,000 homes.

Read about this major victory for the climate, clean air, and renewable energy.

---

One of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the U.S. will soon shut down, thanks to a well-known billionaire and previously passed legislation.

As part of its acquisition of Nevada’s largest utility, NV Energy, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway also inherited Reid Gardner, a 557-megawatt (MW), coal-fired energy plant near Las Vegas. The massive structure, which has a history of recognition among the country’s dirtiest carbon polluters, won’t be a lasting legacy of NV’s profile.

NV plans on shutting down three of Reid Gardner’s units that generate about 300 MW by the end of this year, according to the *Las Vegas Review-Journal*. The remaining 257 MW would be closed by the end of 2017. In all, the company wants to end all of its coal operations by 2019.

As *The Atlantic* points out, the utility’s decision is tied to state legislation passed last year requiring the company to eliminate 800 MW of coal energy in favor of renewables. That passage was influenced by years of fighting for cleaner air by the Moapa Band of Paiutes, a Native American community that lives near Reid Gardner.

The state utilities commission has 180 days to approve the plan, which would also include a new solar project totaling 200 MW of clean energy on the Moapa Band of Paiutes reservation. The land is about 70,000 acres and has enough to space to also support the 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy the Moapa Band of Paiute wants to construct through a joint ventureannounced last year with Terrible Herbst Inc. and Stronghold Engineering Inc.

“This is going to provide a strong economic base for the tribe,” Sandy King, director of renewable-energy project development at Stronghold, told Renewable Energy World.

Last fall, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a limit of 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour for new coal plants.

Conservative media have spent years accusing the Obama administration of lawlessness. But now they're lining up to defend a rancher who refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the federal government:http://mm4a.org/Q6GzVK Related: Media Matters Investigative Reporter Joe Strupp spoke to Nevada journalists, who told him that the rancher is clearly breaking the law:http://mm4a.org/1kye9Py

grist 2010

Nevada

I’m in utter shock. Republican House candidate Kenneth Wegner (Nev.-01) includes, as part of an otherwise typical “all of the above” Republican energy strategy, this:

We should foster and encourage production of our own energy needs through the use of green technologies. Nuclear power needs to be more fully developed, and breeder reactors constructed to burn nuclear byproducts. We need to continue to prevent the loss of farm land in the fertile parts of our country, and promote the use of soil-replenishing natural fertilizers on our existing farmlands. We need to reduce ourcarbon footprint through alternate energy sources described above. [Emphasis mine.]

You don’t use the phrase “carbon footprint” unless you worry about carbon.

Incumbent Rep. Dean Heller (Nev.-02) and candidate Joe Heck (Nev.-03) are far more typical Republicans: neither has said anything about climate science, but both have signed the Koch/AFP pledge.

Brian Sandoval, candidate for governor, hasn’t said anything regarding climate change.

And then there’s Sharron Angle (R-Area 51), running for Senate, the voice of calm reason … on her home planet. On this one, not so much.

Semi-final score: one unknown (Sandoval), two presumed Zombies, one obtuse Angle, and one GOP candidate who appears to acknowledge climate science. Wegner is the second Republican I’ve found in 16 states who does so.

Rhode Island

http://thinkprogress.org/climate-zombie-caucus/

ensign did something evil?

affair with a staffer and then paying off the family of the staffer. The the husband of the staffer later gets arrested for doing a lobbying job that Ensign got him.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/republicans-call-for-climategate-inquiry/

The senators signing the letter are Sam Brownback of Kansas, John Ensign of Nevada, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

Bills introduced in Nevada to allow machine guns on the Vegas strip, privatize public education, and thwart federal healthcare reform can be tied back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), according to a new report from ProgressNow Nevada detailing ALEC's influence in that state.

Former Nevada Senator Bill Raggio, the longest-serving senator in state history, was ALEC's National Chair in 1993 and told an ALEC meeting in 1992 that "Those who founded ALEC in 1973 probably did not imagine that in just 20 short years ALEC would grow to become the most influential state-level organization in the country."

ALEC's influence over state law and policy over the past twenty years has been even more expansive, and Nevada is no exception.

For example, in recent sessions, bills have been introduced in the Nevada legislature that resemble the ALEC "Special Needs Scholarship Program Act" and the "Foster Child Scholarship Program Act," both of which send taxpayer dollars to private schools, or the "Great Schools Tax Credit Program" that gives a tax writeoff for private school scholarships. Other bills resemble the Consistency in Firearms Regulation Act, which would bar cities from passing firearm restrictions -- even banning machine guns -- that are more restrictive than the state as a whole.

The report also found that the Nevada Legislative Commission has paid membership dues to ALEC since 1993. Current public records do not extend back that far, so it is impossible to ascertain how many taxpayer dollars have been spent on ALEC, but dues for fiscal year 2012 cost $1,000.

When Progress Now Nevada asked for correspondence between legislators and ALEC via a Public Records Request, the Legislative Council Bureau responded on behalf of Senators saying ALEC communication was "so inextricably intertwined with the policy-making and bill-drafting process that disclosure of the correspondence would inevitably reveal the Senators' deliberations."

According to Progress Now Nevada, "This striking statement admits the great depth of the influence ALEC holds on Nevada's legislative process."

Read the full report here.

Contents [hide]

Introduction

Nevada had 8 coal-fired generating stations in 2005, with 2,769 megawatts (MW) of capacity, representing 28.1% of the state's total electric generating capacity; Nevada ranks 33rd out of the 50 states in terms of coal energy production.^[1] In 2006, Nevada's coal-fired power plants produced 9.6 million tons of CO₂, 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 15,000 tons of nitrogen oxide; coal-fired power plants were responsible for 22.3% of the state's total CO_{2 emissions.}^[2] In 2005, Nevada emitted 17.9 tons of CO₂ per person, about 10% below the U.S. average.^[3] (281 MW of Nevada's power capacity comes from geothermal energy - the second-highest total of any state in the country.)

There was no coal mining in Nevada in 2006.^[4]

Nevada Fights for Clean Energy.

Citizen activism

History

There is no history of coal mining in Nevada.^[5] The coal power industry has historically also been very weak in Nevada, which is dominated by natural gas-fired energy production. However, the recent rise in energy prices in California has resulted in a rash of coal power plant proposals in Nevada; there are currently four active proposals, totaling 4,050 MW (which would more than double Nevada's existing coal-fired energy capacity). These proposals have sparked a series of intense political battles, at both the local and state levels.^[6][7]

Studies on Coal Use in Nevada

A study released in July 2010 by the Civil Society Institute argued that it was technically and economically viable to retire all coal and nuclear based power in seven Western states, including Washington.

The region covered in the study was said to have enough renewable sources of energy and, combined with energy conservation measures, the transition away from coal and nuclear could take place within 30 years time. In this scenario, according to the Civil Society Institute study, the entire Northwest could retire 11,000 megawatts of coal-fired power and add at least 12,000 megawatts of onshore wind power.^[8]

Legislative issues

In an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Reid Gardner Station began burning a mixture of biomass with coal. NV Energy, as part of the state energy portfolio standard, must produce 25% of its energy using renewable resources by 2025. However, lawmakers contend that burning biomass in coal-fired plants, with coal, was not what they envisioned. Additionally, another controversy has arisen over the wood from the Kaibab National Forest in Northern Arizona which is supplying the plant's biomass. Some critics contend that biomass actually is not a sustainable renewable energy resource.^[9]

Proposed coal plants

Operating

TS Power Plant, Dunphy, NV (operating 2008)

Cancelled

Ely Energy Center, Phase I, Ely, NV
Ely Energy Center, Phase II, Ely, NV
Gerlach Plant, Gerlach, NV
Toquop, Lincoln County, NV (Switched to natural gas)
White Pine Energy Station, White Pine County, NV

Coal lobbying groups

Coal power companies

Sierra Pacific Resources
- Headquarters in Reno, NV
- Controls 6 coal-fired generating stations with 1133 MW total capacity
- Proposals on hold: Ely Energy Center, Phase I, Ely Energy Center, Phase II

Existing coal plants

Nevada had 8 coal-fired generating stations in 2005, with 2,769 MW of capacity - representing 28.1% of the state's total electric generating capacity. Here is a list of coal power plants in Nevada with capacity over 400 MW:^[1][10][11]

Plant Name	County	Owner	Year(s) Built	Capacity	2007 CO₂Emissions	2006 SO₂Emissions	SO₂/MW Rank
Mohave (shut down)	Clark	Edison International	1971	1636 MW	0 tons	0 tons	N/A
Reid Gardner	Clark	Sierra Pacific Resources	1965, 1968, 1976, 1983	612 MW	5,259,000 tons	2,015 tons	248
North Valmy	Humboldt	Sierra Pacific Resources	1981, 1985	521 MW	4,387,000 tons	7,161 tons	208

These 3 plants represent 100% of Nevada's coal energy generating capacity, 22.3% of the state's total CO_2 emissions, and 31.9% of its total SO_{2 emissions.}^[3]

For a map of existing coal plants in the state, see the bottom of this page.

Mohave Generating Station

Mohave Generating Station is a non-operational 1640 megawatt coal fired power plant located in Laughlin, Nevada, near the border of California and Arizona. Southern California Edison is the majority owner of the plant and was its operator. The plant has been shut down since 2005.^[12] Coal for the plant was transported in a 273 mile long slurry pipeline from the Peabody Energy Black Mesa coal mine, located on lands belonging to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe.

Mohave Generating Station

In 2005, the Mohave Generating Station ceased operations due to a Clean Air Act lawsuit and because Navajo and Hopi tribes passed resolutions ending Peabody’s use of the Black Mesa aquifer. According to the EPA, the coal plant was the dirtiest in the Western U.S., emitting up to 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year.^[13] Southern California Edison chose to shut down the plant rather than upgrade it to acceptable pollution standards.

AN ILL WIND - The Secret Threat of Coal Ash at Reid Gardner.

Drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium from coal may cause cancer

A report released by EarthJustice and the Sierra Club in early February 2011 stated that there are many health threats associated a toxic cancer-causing chemical found in coal ash waste called hexavalent chromium. The report specifically cited 29 sites in 17 states where the contamination was found. The information was gathered from existing EPA data on coal ash and included locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virgina and Wisconsin. In Nevada, the Reid Gardner Station in Moapa was reported as having high levels of chromium seeping into groundwater.^[14]

As a press release about the report read:

Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical has readily leaked from coal ash sites across the U.S. This is likely the tip of the iceberg because most coal ash dump sites are not adequately monitored.^[15]

Reid Gardner coal-ash landfill expansion moves forward

On April 28, 2011 NV Energy moved a step closer toward expanding its controversial landfill for toxic coal-ash waste at its power plant near Moapa, Nevada.

Southern Nevada Health District's board directed its staff to proceed with finalizing conditions for a permit it approved in October 2011 to expand the Reid Gardner Station's landfill, paving the way for 35 more years of operating the coal-fired plant. Moapa Band of Paiutes and the Sierra Club opposed the expansion, noting that it would likely lead to an increase in local water contamination.^[16]

Reid Gardner Station to be closed in 2014 and 2017

In June 2013, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed a law accelerating the retirement of Reid Gardner Station. Three of the plant's four units will close in 2014, and the remaining unit will close in 2017.^[17] Prior to the new law units 1, 2, and 3 had been scheduled for retirement in 2020 under Nevada Power Company's 2010-2029 Integrated Resource Plan.^[18]

Major coal mines

There are no major coal mines in Nevada.^[19]

Citizen groups

Resources

References

↑ ^1.0^ ^1.1^ Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed April 2008.
↑ Estimated Emissions for U.S. Electric Power Industry by State, 1990-2006, Energy Information Administration, 2007.
↑ ^3.0^ ^3.1^ Nevada Energy Consumption Information, eRedux website, accessed June 2008.
↑ Coal Production and Number of Mines by State and Mine Type, Energy Information Administration, accessed June 2008.
↑ State Coal Profiles, Energy Information Administration, 1994 - cached copy at CoalDiver.org
↑ “Nevada Denies Plea to Delay New Coal Power Plants", Reuters, September 10, 2007.
↑ “Reid’s Coal Battle On Hold", Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 18, 2007.
↑ "Study says Northwest can quit coal power and save money" Dustin Bleizeffer, Trib.com, July 29, 2010.
↑ "Wood: Not the renewable energy some had in mind," Stephanie Tavares, ’’Las Vegas Sun’’, November 9, 2009
↑ Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
↑ Dig Deeper, Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed June 2008.
↑ “Clearing California’s Coal Shadow from the American West,” accessed July 2008
↑ “Making a Just Transition” Timothy Lesle, Sierra Club newsletter, May 2006
↑ [wvgazette.com/static/coal%20tattoo/ChromReport.pdf "EPA’s Blind Spot: Hexavalent Chromium in Coal Ash"] Earthjustice & Sierra Club, February 1, 2011.
↑ "Coal ash waste tied to cancer-causing chemicals in water supplies" Alicia Bayer, Examiner.com, February 1, 2011.
↑ "Controversial coal-ash landfill expansion near Moapa moves forward" Keith Rogers, Las Vegas Review Journal, April 28, 2011.
↑ Chris Clarke, "Nevada to Phase Out Energy Produced by Coal, Enviros and Tribes Applaud Move," Rewire, June 12, 2013
↑ Final order on Nevada Power Company 2010-2029 Triennial Integrated Resource Plan, Nevada Public Utilities Commission, Docket 10-02009, July 28, 2010, page 17
↑ Major U.S. Coal Mines, Energy Information Administration, accessed June 2008.

Nevada

Details be damned: Nevada gov. pledges full commitment to Trump immigration plans

Pending charges

Michigan

Pennsylvania

Nevada

New Mexico

A key legal change since 2020

DOE SHIPPED NUCLEAR WASTE TO NEVADA FOR YEARS The U.S.Department of Energy shipped potentially dangerous nuclear material incorrectly labeled as low-level radioactive waste intoNevada for several years, the governor said. [HuffPost]

Officials are outraged after Trump administration secretly ships ‘weapons-grade plutonium’ to an unwitting state

How Utilities Are Trying to Slow Down Rooftop Solar

Casino Magnate Wants to Kill Bill That Would Make Nevada a Renewable Energy Powerhouse

End of Net Metering

NV Energy Takes Bigger Solar Cut

Who Pays For Solar?

Nevada Hemorrhages Solar Jobs

Brighter Days Ahead For Solar?

Introduction

Citizen activism

History

Studies on Coal Use in Nevada

Legislative issues

Proposed coal plants

Operating

Cancelled

Coal lobbying groups

Coal power companies

Existing coal plants

Mohave Generating Station

Drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium from coal may cause cancer

Reid Gardner coal-ash landfill expansion moves forward

Reid Gardner Station to be closed in 2014 and 2017

Major coal mines

Citizen groups

Resources

References

DOE SHIPPED NUCLEAR WASTE TO NEVADA FOR YEARS The U.S.Department of Energy shipped potentially dangerous nuclear material incorrectly labeled as low-level radioactive waste into Nevada for several years, the governor said. [HuffPost]