connie1It is time to wish the Environmental Protection Agency happy birthday. This massive bureaucracy is 45 years old on December 2. Having grown from a baby to a toddler to a massive adult the agencies first year budget was $1,003,984,000 and has grown to $8,139,887,000 in 2014.

So what do they do with all your hard earned dollars? Here are just a couple of examples. They employ 1020 lawyers who are there to make sure we are all in compliance with the policies of the EPA. They give 72 billion dollars out for grants to promote their policies. This is a clear violation of the Federal Anti-Lobbying Act, but in today’s world that doesn’t matter. Grants are given out to environmentalist’s who promote EPA policies.

This includes solar energy as well as wind. Both forms of energy are interesting, but can hardly, with today’s technology, support a city. So it is apparent we will still need to rely on getting the bulk of our electricity from Nevada Energy or as in the case of Mesquite, Overton Power.

The EPA is being sued by 24 states who believe the over-reach of the EPA’s “Clean Air Power Plan” is illegal. Nevada’s Attorney General Adam Laxalt has not joined with the 24 other AG’s to fight the over-reach of the EPA.

Climate change theory has as many detractors as it has proponents. What used to be called “Global Warming” was changed to “Climate Change” after it was exposed many scientists had changed information on global warming because it did not fit the agenda of the left and the scientists themselves were being funded to come up with a preconceived outcome. Why would they do this? Because they are funded in grants to Universities etc. that your tax dollars pay for.

An entire new OpEd could be written on “Climate Change, Corruption and Cronyism”, but I digress.

It would be in the best interest of the people of Nevada for Attorney General Laxalt to join the other 24 AG’s to fight the EPA over-stepping their jurisdiction.

The Clean Air Power Plan will hurt the state’s economy, discourage growth and trickle down to the poor who do not have the revenue to pay higher energy bills.

Casinos are the driving force behind the economy in Nevada. We do have manufacturing and other businesses that use large amounts of energy, but without the casino industry Nevada would be just another western state with low population. The casino industry attracts tourists and tourists bring money to the state.

Right now the casino industry purchases their energy from Nevada Power. Wynn Resorts reports they could save up to $7 million a year by purchasing power from other providers, this according to an article in the Review Journal written by James Taylor, Senior Fellow of the Heartland Institute. The casino industry would like to have a choice in who they buy their power from and how much will be from coal generated plants, wind and solar. But if they opt out of using Nevada Energy they will be assessed a penalty. To change providers, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission says that just the MGM, Sands and Wynn casinos will have to pay a penalty of 121 million to compensate Nevada Energy. Which by the way is owned by Warren Buffett.