We've been hearing about it now for a few weeks but the Fed's, the BLM: Bureau of Lame Management, er, sorry, the Bureau of LAND Management has decided to put a moratorium on disposing of or leasing land for Solar projects. They complain that they have gotten "so many" applications in the last few years that they need to do an environmental impact study to see if the new shade offered to the desert turtles will hurt them or not. Read the PVT article.

They want to push any approvals back for 22 months! That is almost TWO YEARS! How long does it take to find out whether a turtle likes the shade of a solar panel or not? Add that two years to the current THREE YEAR process to get the proper permits and we are still at least FIVE YEARS away from any new Solar Power in rural Nevada. That is not even counting the time it take to build the solar or wind plants.

I put this solidly in Senate MAJORITY Leader Harry Reid's lap. He is the freekin' head of the US Senate with a majority in Congress and what have we seen for all his LIP SERVICE to renewables in Nevada. Back when new coal plants were being proposed and he came out saying "over my dead body" he should have said "No to coal but I will get the BLM to release 50,000 acres for solar and wind projects"

I am TIRED of the lip service to renewables by ALL OUR POLITICIANS. It seems like this Ed Goedhart from Nye County is the ONLY ONE who gets it!

Okay I am getting a little tired of Nevada bloggers. I search the blog sphere for insight into the temperature of Nevada thought and action. But most of what I seem to find are rants against everything Jim Gibbons and everything George Bush. I have not read calm, concise, and concrete blogs that will state a point of view without relying on name calling and using bad language. It is as if because they DARE to use bad language on a blog they should be legitimate.

There is a true story out of the formerly (maybe soon again) Communist Russia where a group of children who were exposed to ranting and raving about how bad democracy was and how screwed up Christianity was and that anyone would be "out of their mind" to believe in those corrupt Capitalist systems. They were ranted about through grade school, middle school, and high school, but when they got to college they started thinking, "With all this ranting and raving we have been hearing all these years our government must be afraid of something?" So they checked it out, REALLY checked it out away from all the propaganda and became the leaders in the NEW Russian revolution to rid itself of Communism.

Why do I tell you this story? Because the more ranting and raving I see on the Nevada blogs the more fear I see of the OPPOSITE view. A calm, realistic exchange of ideas shows you have confidence in your opinion where a rant shows you are scared of the opposite opinion and need to rely on volume and not on truth.

Think about it. Calm, disciplined and healthy debate over substantial issues is PRO Nevada!

In both the LVS and LVRJ papers you will find articles on water usage in Las Vegas and the pipeline proposal.

Vegas seems to think this is a done deal. Vegas seems to think that all it will take is a little more negotiation and water will come GUSHING from White Pine and Lincoln Counties to serve Las Vegas' growth. All that SEEMS to be left is a small deal with Utah.

PRO Nevada appreciates the farmers and ranchers who cashed in on the thirst of Vegas by selling their acre-feet of water, but PRO Nevada stands against pumping the water to Vegas for billions of dollars. That's right BILLIONS of dollars. As we said in a previous post Las Vegas can build a desalinization plant in Mexico for $250 million, with no annoying California environmentalist whackos stopping it. Why use up water that farmers, ranchers and miners already use in mid Nevada when you can trade desal' plants for water out of the Colorado? It is like driving 50 miles to see a movie that is playing in your back yard FOR LESS MONEY! Why is the Vegas Water Authority even messing with northern water? It is more expensive, it is expendable as opposed to the ocean of water in Mexico, and it is more environmentally sound.

Kudos to the ranchers and farmers who cashed in on LVVWA's stupidity but, seriously Vegas, get your head out of your ass.

Okay, here's the thing ...

When did we get to the point where politics was about slinging as much mud as possible on each candidate? When did we get to the point where the issues took a back seat to digging up and explaining all the mud in your life?

Don't get me wrong, I believe that your ethics need to be consistent, you cannot screw people here and then NOT screw them there. That is an imposibility even in our dichotic world.

BUT there is a lot of room for HUMANS who make mistakes in the political arena. There has to be or only Jesus Christ could run for office. There has to be room for an honest politician to say, "You know what, you are right, I screwed up, I shouldn't have done that, but I learned from it, I am now a better person than I was then. NOW lets talk about our fixing our schools, or economic issues, or even Yucca Mountain."

I pray there is still room for our great state to forgive and forget. But in the age of internet searches we will always find stupid things our politicians say and do and a grainy video to prove it. I pray there is still room to discuss REAL issues instead of just the latest dirt.

Everybody's cover story is Gibbons possible affair or Bush's press secretary's new book. What just happened to the issues?

Let's get over it, get on with it, get done with it, and GET GOING AGAIN!

How many of you out there REALLY think you can make a difference in American Politics? Seriously? I would really like to see a politician who honestly says what he/she is thinking and believes in. All I hear is politicians telling me what they think I want to hear:

"I don't support Yucca" in Nevada; "I support Yucca" in New York.
"I'll lower gas prices"
"I'll make the value of your home come back!"
"I'll make your schools better!"
"I'll vote out the dirty bastards!"
"I support your values!"
"I focus on what's important to YOU!"
"I'm the PRO Nevada candidate!"

Well, how refreshing would this be:

"I'm not going to promise a damn thing to you other then that I will tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not!"
"I'm not going to take a more than $100 from any one person and not a damn cent from businesses, unions, PACs, or other politicians!"

Now THAT would be PRO Nevada!

Congrats to Nevada Miners who set a record in gold production this year. While the actual ounces was a few less than last year, with the gold prices being so high they had record profits. (PVT) This is good for employment in Nevada. This is good for the security and stability as well as the wages of Nevada workers. And this is good for tax revenue for the state.

Mining in Nevada is definitely PRO Nevada!