Reid of Nevada takes on coal-fired power plants: is he a politician or a leader?

Harry Reid has stated his opposition to coal-fired power plants. The blogs are awash in pro and con statements. The point that hit me was that as the son of a miner with 16 grandkids, he thought long and hard before announcing his opposition.

In our office, the younger staff said they do not know who Reid is nor do they follow American politics. So a brief background to this story: Harry Reid is a Democrat from Nevada. He is the Senate Majority Leader. As I noted, he is the son of a miner, and has always come out strong in defense of mining in Nevada and elsewhere. By virtue of his background, his party affiliation, and his position as leader of the Senate, his pronouncement on coal-fired power plants is significant.

Here is what he said:

There’s not a coal-fired plant in America that’s clean. They’re all dirty,” Reid told reporters after speaking at a conference on renewable energy. “Unless we do something quickly about global warming, we’re in trouble.”

Reid said the U.S. should rely on renewable forms of energy in an effort to curb emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. Nevada and other Western states have an abundance of such renewables as wind, solar and geothermal power.

“It can be done. We can change this voracious appetite we have for fossil fuels,” Reid told the conference. “Sadly, the sun, the wind and the geothermal energy we see is being wasted every day.”

In July, Reid pledged to do “everything I can” to stop construction of the proposed coal-fired power plants in White Pine and Lincoln counties in eastern Nevada.

Seems as though at least one mining company (and one casino) at the conference agreed with Harry Reid. The report continues:

Industry representatives, including those from Barrick Gold Corp. and MGM MIRAGE, touted their efforts to promote the development of clean energy. “We believe the best energy is kilowatts never used and that’s what we focus on,” said Cindy Ortega, senior vice president at MGM MIRAGE. “We focus on buildings that are energy-efficient.”

Here are some statistics on Nevada’s energy position I cull from various reports:

• Nevada is No. 1 in geothermal energy use per capita in the nation, generating 110 watts per person compared to California, which produces less than 70 watts per capita.

• Nevada will be No. 1 in solar energy production per capita in the nation by the end of this year with projects now under way, generating 33 watts per person compared to California, which produces 18 watts per person.

• The Nevada Legislature in 2007 modified, but continued providing, property tax breaks for “green construction” designed to use less energy. One of those green projects is the MGM Mirage’s $7.4 billion CityCenter, a 76-acre mixed-use development on the Strip. CityCenter is the largest privately financed real estate project in the nation. It will include its own energy-efficient power plant and a people mover.

• There is currently 550 megawatts of geothermal energy under development in Nevada, with the potential for up to 1,500 megawatts total.

• Nevada also has more than 24 million acres of land within 10 miles of existing transmission lines classified as “good” to “outstanding” for wind-energy development.

• If environmentally sensitive lands and lands with conflicting use were excluded, the state could still generate 63 million megawatt hours, 280 percent of the entire state’s current consumption.

Naturally there is oppositions to Reid’s vision, and counter-arguments to the “facts” noted above. Here is a link and a short excerpt from just one (you will easily find many more on the internet.)

Doug Fischer, a utilities analyst with the investment firm A.G. Edwards, said coal opponents, including Reid, could “put us in a bind where we’re not going to have the energy we need.” “The Al Gores and Harry Reids of the world need to get real with how we’re going to deal with our need for power,” Fischer said, “because we’re not going to get there solely with conservation.” The utility industry simply scoffs at the notion that Nevada could be the first state powered mainly by renewable energy: wind, solar and geothermal. “To go cold turkey and say we’re going to do it all with renewables right now? You could never bring the amount of resources on in the time necessary,” said Tom Johns, senior vice president of development for Sithe Global, the power developer proposing a 750-megawatt coal-fired plant in Lincoln County.

Whenever I read these tirades and declarations by opinion leaders and political leaders, I am reminded of the sober analyses discussed & presented at many technical conferences. I seem to recall that the general consensus amongst the technical conference attendees is that even with the best will and effort in the world, we are not about to replace traditional sources of power by wind and sun any time soon. So I wonder at the political factors that may be prompting Reid.

Then again I recall people who truly can be called LEADERS. People who lead us to places where we did not want to go, but in fact, need to go. People who have the courage (or madness) to lead a whole people, a whole nation, in a direction that pundits said could not be done. I am certain Reid is no Churchill, Mandela, Gorbachev, or Darwin. But maybe just for once, the U.S. political system has thrown up a leader, who can take us where we need to go, but clearly do not want to go.

Then again, maybe the mining industry will do it as a matter of common sense and sound economics. Witness this report from the same conference where Reid made his announcement. This announcement tells of Barrick’s presentation:

The world’s largest gold mining company, Barrick, is headquartered in Canada, which long-ago embraced tax benefits for those who invest in renewable energy. It is also one of the largest employers in rural Nevada.

In a presentation to the Nevada Clean Energy Summit, Michael Brown, Vice President of U.S. Public Affairs for Barrick, said the company has invested in a 115-megawatt natural gas power plant, a few miles east of Reno, several years ago. Barrick is also adding a 1 megawatt solar energy farm on nine acres near the natural gas plant.

Meanwhile, Brown noted that the company uses solar panels on monitors and other mine site equipment, and intends to use a combination of geothermal and solar power for its new Elko administration building.

Brown also highlighted Barrick plans to build a $40 million wind farm in the Punta Colorado area of La Higuera, Coquimbo Region of Chile. The wind farm will include 10 wind turbines aimed at generated up to 20 megawatts of power to Chile’s national power grind. Once completed, it will be Chile’s largest source of wind-generated power.

Barrick is also installing a 2 megawatt demonstration wind turbine near its Veladero mine in San Juan, Argentina. When start-up begins at year-end, it will be the only turbine in the world operating at more than 4,000 meters above sea level.

It’s an intriguing thought: Barrick and Reid redefining what constitutes a social license to mine in Nevada–namely the use of non-carbon generating power?