Sen. Reid and green power

But what’s the difference, really? Americans vote for the man, not the party.

What matters is that leaders such as Sen. Reid are native Nevadans, sons of this common-sense Western state where hardscrabble miners and cattlemen have long had to wrest their livings from an unforgiving land, not likely to be caught up in the trendy patchouli-scented nonsense of the Berkeley-and-Greenwich Village crowd, the kind of radicals who don’t mind shutting down whole industries out here in “flyover country” if it’ll save a few spotted owls, who figure they can shut down every nuclear and coal-fired electric plant and still power their stereos, their fondue pots, and their pottery kilns with electricity from … oh, windmills or something.

A senator from common-sense Nevada wouldn’t embrace that kind of hogwash — would he?

Sen. Reid, the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, said Thursday he’ll do “everything I can” to halt construction of three new coal-fired power plants in Nevada, two near Ely and a third near Mesquite.

“My conscience wouldn’t let me” support construction of plants that will generate pollution by burning millions of tons of coal, the senator told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I just can’t do that. All these power moguls want to do is steal our air and water.”

Sen. Reid made his comments after sending letters to the heads of several power companies involved with the projects, including Reno-based Sierra Pacific Resources. State and ratepayer resources instead “should be heavily focused on rapid and significant investments in clean renewable energy and energy efficiency,” the senator wrote.

It’s the now-familiar mantra of the Greens. Coal is too dirty: greedy power companies need to force us to take cold showers while switching us over to alternative energy sources.

Nuclear? There’s still plenty of uranium to provide much of our power needs, though government regulation has driven up the cost. Still, if you want to move away from coal …

“Oh no!” the greens shriek. Nuclear can’t be allowed, either — too dangerous. Instead, the greedy power companies must shut down all current plants, immediately replacing them with solar panels, windmill farms and power tapped from geysers and volcanic fumaroles.

Of course, as soon as any windmills get built, many of these same people (or their first cousins) squawk that they’re unsightly, they interfere with TV reception, they kill too many birds …

And where is their evidence that any more than 10 or 20 percent of our current generating capacity can be replaced with such “renewable” sources in the next decade — without generating a new “environmental crisis” involving “toxic battery farms” … and without increasing our power bills many times over?

Eric Crawford, project manager for the $3.7 billion, 1,500-megawatt power plant to be built near Ely, says LS Power and Dynegy — two of the firms targeted by Reid’s letter — plan to build a “very clean, very efficient facility that certainly would comply with all federal, state and local standards.” He adds that the firms already plan to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” into renewable energy.

The new Ely Energy Center “would definitely be in the best interests of our state since it will provide technological advances that will allow us to shut down older existing coal facilities,” adds Michael Yackira, president of Sierra Pacific Resources.

This is technology that allows us to keep the lights on, every day, 24-7. Yet Sen. Reid labels as thieves those who bring it to us?

If Sen. Reid believes there are billions to be made by investing in wind, solar and geothermal technologies — without “stealing our air and water” (whatever that means), he’s no longer a poor man. He’s welcome to invest his own millions in such ventures — free of taxpayer subsidies — and report back to his constituents on how it all works out.