LETTER: Nevada can lead on renewable energy

Mark Hauenstein’s Sunday column on using pumped geothermal to complement solar highlights Nevada’s potential to be a renewable energy economic powerhouse. Solar is intermittent, and we need a variety of energy storage options to produce reliable power at night and during times of peak use. Yet the continuing buildout of fossil fuel energy infrastructure is a one-way trip to expensive stranded assets and climate chaos.

The world is changing drastically with unprecedented heat, water scarcity, ocean death and climate-fueled disasters. A changed world requires new ideas from citizens and our leaders. Technologies such as geothermal pumping could make Nevada a leader in a new clean energy economy.

Nevada ratepayers should stand firm in refusing to subsidize NV Energy’s plans for new natural gas plants. Gov. Joe Lombardo’s administration should aggressively seek funding through Department of Energy and other grantors to help develop clean, reliable energy storage. The Public Utilities Commission should consider long-term health, environmental and economic harms of fossil fuels and refuse to permit new natural gas infrastructure in Nevada.