Wednesday, April 16, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.
This year’s winner of the Nevada Medal is doing more than attending the ceremonies that honor his scientific achievements.
The medal is awarded by the Desert Research Institute and this year’s winner is James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.
Hansen has come to the public’s attention in recent years by speaking out against the Bush administration’s contortion of science to make it fit conservative political views.
But Hansen’s reputation in scientific circles goes back 30 years. He is recognized by his peers as a foremost climatologist, one whose views on global warming should be taken seriously.
Those views are summarized in a letter Hansen wrote this week to Gov. Jim Gibbons. Nevadans are fortunate that Hansen took the occasion of his award to express himself about three coal-fired power plants, including the Ely Energy Center, that are being proposed for the state and which Gibbons supports.
Although the Ely Energy Center, proposed by Sierra Pacific Resources, parent company of Nevada Power, is being advocated for a federal program that would make it a model for “clean coal” technology, the designation is far from certain.
Even if it were, Hansen says in his letter, “there is no such thing as clean coal.” The best that can be hoped for under this technology is temporarily sequestering a coal plant’s emissions underground, and Hansen says, “Nevada’s geology is not very well suited” for that.
The scientist wrote that continued burning of coal will perpetuate global warming with all of its side effects for the West, including longer droughts and wildfire seasons, more winter and spring flooding and longer heat waves.
Hansen implores Gibbons to end his support of coal and use his power as governor to further Nevada’s renewable energy industries. He says global warming’s worst effects can be avoided, but only if efforts begin now to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to zero.
Nevada has honored Hansen, and in turn he has honored us with this letter. We hope it is heeded.
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