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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 23 March 2023
Nevada to add gas plant as drought tests U.S. West power grids

By RIO YAMAT Las Vegas, Los Angeles
Associated Press and Phoenix. Last March,
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Utility for example, Lake Powell in
regulators in Nevada gave Utah and Arizona dipped
the state’s largest power below a critical thresh-
provider clearance to start old, raising new concerns
work on a $333 million proj- about the Glen Canyon
ect to build a natural gas Dam, a source of power
plant in the state for the that millions of people in
first time in nearly 15 years, the West rely on for elec-
signaling yet another con- tricity. If power production
sequence of the extreme ceases at the dam, rural
drought conditions in the electric cooperatives, cit-
southwestern U.S. ies and tribal utilities would
The two gas-fired turbines be forced to seek more ex-
to be erected north of Las pensive options that could
Vegas by NV Energy are include fossil fuels.
expected to come online Already, Nevada has re-
by July 2024 amid hotter tired its largest coal plant,
summers and longer wild- while the North Valmy coal
fire seasons in a state that plant is scheduled to shut
aims to have a carbon-free down its remaining units by
power grid by 2050. In this undated photo provided by NV Energy is the Silverhawk Generating Station north of Las 2025. About 60% of Nevada
Nevada’s Public Utilities Vegas. is now powered by natural
Commission approved Associated Press gas and 30% by renewable
the plans last week. It said “Both the state and the util- “We’ve always dealt with clean energy between energy resources.
the turbines are needed ity have set strong goals annual variability when it 2040 and 2050, according Natural gas is composed
to address peak electric- to transition to renewable comes to hydroelectric to the Clean Energy States primarily of methane, a
ity demand in the summer energy,” said Angelyn Ta- power in the West. How Alliance. greenhouse gas about 25
months, as ever-drying balba, a spokesperson for much of it we have really But as those deadlines ap- times more powerful than
conditions in the West con- the Nevada Conservation depends on the snowpack proach, scientists say the carbon dioxide in trapping
tinue to stress the region’s League. “Instead of dou- and what happened in the megadrought gripping the heat in the atmosphere,
power grids and slash hy- bling down on fossil fuels, winter and spring,” O’Boyle southwest is the worst in according to the Environ-
droelectric output, includ- they should be leaning into said. “It’s not a new issue, 1,200 years, putting a deep mental Protection Agency.
ing the behemoth power a clean energy future.” but it’s been exacerbated strain on the Colorado But NV Energy said the tur-
producers on the Colorado Mike O’Boyle, senior direc- by the drought. Unfortu- River. If states don’t begin bines will have minimal car-
River the Hoover Dam and tor of electricity policy at nately it’s a new major con- taking less out of the river, bon dioxide emissions be-
Glen Canyon Dam. the Bay Area-based En- tingency that utility provid- major reservoirs threaten to cause they will only oper-
But environmental advo- ergy Innovation firm, said ers have to plan for.” fall so low they can’t pro- ate in the summer months
cates have argued that the commission’s decision At least 21 other states, as duce hydropower or sup- — or for about 700 hours
the turbines mark a major underscores a growing ten- well as the District of Co- ply any water to farms that annually — and therefore
step backwards for Ne- sion across the American lumbia and Puerto Rico, grow crops for the rest of won’t hinder the state’s
vada’s climate goals. Southwest. have goals to reach 100% the nation and cities like carbon-free goals. q

Endangered status sought for gopher tortoise in 4 states

By CURT ANDERSON opment should be placed government over the issue. “Without lifesaving Endan- range have proved futile.
Associated Press on the endangered species The Center for Biological gered Species Act protec- The Fish and Wildlife Service
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — list in four southern states, Diversity and Nokuse Edu- tion for our gopher tortois- concluded in October 2022
Gopher tortoises imperiled environmental groups said cation filed a notice of es, urban sprawl will keep that “the risk factors acting
by loss of habitat largely Wednesday as they pre- intent to sue the U.S. Fish driving them ever closer to on the gopher tortoise and
caused by human devel- pared to sue the federal and Wildlife Service over extinction,” said attorney its habitat, either singly or in
its decision last year not to Elise Bennett, the center’s combination, are not of suf-
list the gopher tortoise as Florida director. ficient imminence, scope,
endangered or threatened The Fish and Wildlife Service or magnitude” to warrant
in Florida, Georgia, South has projected that 75% of threatened or endangered
Carolina and eastern Ala- the current gopher tortoise status. That decision led to
bama. population will be lost by the pending lawsuit.
The center noted there are 2100. The burrows they dig Gopher tortoises once
some state-level protec- with shovel-like front legs, inhabited more than 92
tions for the burrowing tor- which can extend 30 feet million acres (37 million
toises but those generally (9 meters) underground, hectares) of land in the
require the animals to be also support an estimated southeastern U.S. but now
moved from a develop- 360 other species that use have only a fraction of
ment site and do not pro- them. that space due to human
tect their habitat overall. The tortoises are listed as development, agriculture,
This photo provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service shows a The tortoises have lost 97% endangered in parts of Lou- climate change, invasive
gopher tortoise at San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park in of the longleaf pine savan- isiana, Mississippi and west- species and other issues,
Gainesville, Fla. nas where they lived for mil- ern Alabama but efforts according to the center’s
Associated Press lions of years in the South. to list them in their eastern lawsuit notice.q