WEEKLY EDITORIAL RECAP

THURSDAY

POWER PLANTS SURVIVE POWER PLAY

Southern Nevadans tired of seeing their checkbooks clobbered by electric bills got some great news Monday: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid failed in his first legislative effort to block the construction of new coal-fired power plants near Ely. …

With Congress scrambling to cobble together a massive omnibus spending bill before Christmas recess, Sen. Reid tried to insert language designating Great Basin National Park a Class I air quality protection area. That standard likely would have compelled the federal government to halt development of the power plants, but Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller of Nevada and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., were able to keep the language out of the bill.

Instead, the omnibus bill contains a compromise that calls for the nonpartisan General Accountability Office to evaluate air quality at the national park outside Ely and to recommend whether it should receive the highest level of federal protection under the Clean Air Act. …

Sen. Reid wants all of Nevada’s future energy needs met through conservation and renewable resources, such as solar, wind and geothermal power. … The technology is so expensive it would at least triple current power bills. And renewables at this point can’t provide the consistent generation that ensures everyone can run their air conditioners during peak periods of demand.

Because global warming alarmists such as Sen. Reid stand ready to use their doomsday red herring to fight any proposed new, clean-burning coal power plant, older, dirtier coal-fired plants that should have been closed years ago are still in operation. Replacing each of these outdated generating stations with new plants could reduce national carbon dioxide emissions by between 30 and 40 percent solely through efficiency.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is the proper regulatory authority here, and the state has thus far found no reason to halt construction of the plants.

Sen. Reid should abandon this nonsensical crusade and, for once, put his constituents’ needs ahead of his party’s fundraising.