It’s a trend that’s picking up pace: coal fired power plants
are starting to go the way of the dinosaur. NV Energy abandoned plans this week
for a coal-fired power plant in eastern Nevada. Until technologies for
capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions are commercially feasible, the
project has been shelved.
The proposed 1,500-megawatt Ely Energy Center has been under
fire from environmentalists, who criticized the project's expected annual
emissions of 12.6 million tons of greenhouse gases. More than 30 advocacy
groups have formed the Nevada Clean Energy Campaign to oppose the Ely Center
and two other proposed Nevada coal plants.
"We firmly believe the plentiful sources of renewable
energy -- primarily solar, geothermal and wind -- that either already exist or
most certainly can be developed within our state make it imperative that we
press forward on an expedited basis with transmission facilities so that Nevada
and its citizens can benefit from these resources as soon as possible," NV
Energy President and CEO Michael Yackira said in a statement.
With President Obama taking the reins, it’s no doubt that global
warming legislation will be happening sooner rather than later. If that
happens, carbon emissions will be taxed.
Will NV Energy reverse course at some point in the future?
Only when carbon capture and storage technologies become commercially feasible,
which the company said is unlikely before the end of the next decade.
NV Energy will now place their energies on the construction
of a 250-mile transmission line that will boost renewable energy transport
between northern and southern Nevada.
NV Energy is a valued Enviance client. | 
