November 1, 2018
Letters, Nevada

Question 6 opposed by informed conservationists

Letters to the Editor, Nov. 1 | Boulder City Review | bouldercityreview.com

Nevada’s goal of achieving 50 percent of electricity from renewables, according to recent Harvard engineering estimates, requires 16.65 percent of the state’s landmass (18,409 square miles) to be covered by solar/wind turbine facilities, which equals every square foot of Clark, Washoe, Douglas, Storey and Lyon counties, plus Carson City region and all major towns in other counties combined. Pro Question 6 propaganda states, “Thirteen states, including Colorado and Oregon, have renewable energy standards stronger than Nevada’s …” Notice the omission of California, which is the horrific standard for what happens with renewable mandates.

The ballot booklet claims it would create 10,000 new jobs, but ABC news headlines read, “New wind farms in the U.S. do not bring jobs.” Another misleading argument says, “… we spend $700 million a year to import dirty fossil fuels from other states.” If forced to use wind/solar energy, billions of taxpayer dollars will go to foreign companies instead, and Nevada will experience California utility rate hikes that rose five times faster than the national average.

Proponents erroneously claim, “… after all, the wind and sun are free.” On a clothesline, perhaps, but 900 tons of steel per wind turbine plus copper, concrete, rare earth minerals, etc., are anything but free, clean or renewable. 600-foot tall 4.4MW wind turbines don’t spring up naturally like mushrooms. Materials are mined, smelted in coal-fired furnaces, transported and assembled by combustion engines requiring more than 1,000 tons of coal.

The real face of renewable energy can be seen by internet searching for “Baotou,” where rare earth minerals are mined for wind turbine supermagnets. The excavation and refining process annually produces more radioactive waste than the entire U.S. nuclear energy industry.

Informed conservationists will vote no on Question 6 because a yes vote means saying goodbye to reality and to our formerly stable golden eagle population.

Donald Allen Deever

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/11/01/question-6-opposed-by-informed-conservationists/