Nevada’s sun, expanses waiting to be tapped

Steve Metz, Henderson

Monday, April 6, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.

I read with great interest the Sunday story by Las Vegas Sun reporter Alexandra Berzon, “The power of the desert.”

Many states are using their location and business strengths to embrace a specific industry that helps pay for their state to run.

In Nevada, we have sun all year long that is able to power a great portion of America’s needs.

For years, many thought we could house all of the nation’s nuclear waste, bringing with it all the potential of a nuclear disaster. That seems to me to be an unacceptable risk. Instead, why not make Nevada the power capital of the world?

Installing solar panels on 10,000 square miles in Nevada is probably unrealistic. Yet it is easily understandable that our desert, given its potential and size, is underutilized. Why not tap that power for the good of our state and our nation?

Until now, our gaming industry has allowed our state to grow and thrive. But the downturn in the economy shows how fragile that success is.

Imagine Nevada supplying inexpensively a large portion of the power needed by many nearby states, thereby providing our state an endless supply of new revenue.

As for security, I am confident we would be able to ensure the facility’s safety, as we do for every military base in this country.

If we as a nation make a decision to build a grid to provide inexpensive energy to needy states, Nevada and our country will thrive. Can there be any better reason to make Nevada the Energy State?