Sunday, May 2, 2010 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
To misquote Vice President Joe Biden, “This is a big deal.”
The vice president added a bit of rhetorical flourish to his statement when he whispered too loudly his opinion of the health care reform bill that had just passed Congress. He was quite clearly pleased and his excitement about the prospects of what health care reform would mean to so many people in the United States overtook reason, which would dictate prudence in front of live cameras and open mics.
When I turned to friends in the audience at Greenspun Hall at UNLV last week, my excitement about the prospects of what the announcement being made meant to this valley, this country and this world was palpable. Hence my G-rated words echoed the sentiment expressed by the vice president weeks earlier.
For those who missed the story in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Sun, permit me to share the highlights. One of China’s largest power conglomerates, A-Power Generation Systems, and the Shenyang Power Group of China announced they would build a wind turbine assembly plant in the Las Vegas Valley.
That plant, which would come with about 1,000 jobs, would provide wind turbines for a West Texas generation facility that will power up to 180,000 homes in the Southwest. It would also supply other ventures in North and South America that the parties expect to announce over the next few months and years.
In short, Las Vegas would be the center of manufacturing jobs that will help create the renewable energy world of tomorrow. My family’s company, American Nevada, along with a Texas partner make up the development arm of that venture.
That, by itself, is a big deal because 1,000 good-paying jobs using 50,000 tons of U.S.-made steel are really important right now. Especially in Southern Nevada. But that, alone, is not the reason both U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Shenyang Party Secretary Zeng Wei shook hands with such hope as they cut the ceremonial ribbon marking this occasion. And that is not the reason why I echoed Vice President Biden’s take on the now famous “this is a big deal” line.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The long and very difficult journey of achieving U.S. energy independence and some control over the human contribution to climate change needed a first step. We have all witnessed a number of missteps, but I believe last week’s announcement at UNLV was truly the first giant step toward those goals.
It is no secret that two of the world’s three largest economies are also the major contributors to mankind’s adverse effect on climate change. The United States and China need — for some of the same and for other, very different reasons — to come up with the ways and means to advance the cause of renewable energy worldwide.
Together we have the technology, the financial heft, the innovative ability and every good reason to lead the world’s move toward noncarbon-based energy and away from oil, the fuel of the past two centuries. This is not a quick journey nor is it an easy one, but it is a journey the entire globe must embark upon. Together we can lead that effort.
That is what the announcement was all about last week. Not a wind farm in Texas and not just 1,000 jobs in Las Vegas at a wind turbine facility. Those are just the first steps.
What was really being communicated between Chinese and U.S. officials at UNLV was confirmation that our two countries can work together for the betterment of not only our countries but the world, too. That one Texas wind farm can become 100 farms in North and South America. The 180,000 thousand homes powered by one wind farm could become many millions of homes. The 1,000 jobs in Las Vegas could easily become tens of thousands.
How? Why?
Let me tell you. This world does not work in a vacuum anymore. A wind turbine manufacturer in China is connected to a power control box manufacturer in Germany, South America or elsewhere. The electronics capacity innovated and built in America can be manufactured in Japan, Sweden or here at home.
Each of them is involved with dozens of suppliers in countries around the globe. All are connected to one another through supply routes over the seas, in the air and over the land.
Imagine all those component manufacturers locating their plants in one place — say, Las Vegas — which will make supplying and distributing so much easier and more cost-effective. Imagine each of them co-locating their facilities, not on a few dozen acres but on 1,000 acres in our valley. Imagine the nature and quality of those jobs, the skills the workers will have and the education requirements that will flow from such a venture.
Imagine again, a world center for renewable energy technology — not just wind but solar, geothermal and whatever comes next — piggy-backing off of Las Vegas’ major industry. That’s right, tourism. How many people will travel to Las Vegas to see, do business with and learn from a renewable energy park that leads the world in innovation and manufacturing? And how much new business will locate here as a result?
Further imagine the message sent around the world when the United States and China — through government involvement, private enterprise and social interaction — show others how to find common ground despite our differences.
And, finally, imagine the message being delivered here at home. One of the United States’ largest creditors, China, is reinvesting “our” money back into our country to create jobs on our soil. It is a win-win situation or, should I say, wind-win.
I understand we have a long journey before us. But I also know we don’t really have to imagine any of this. We just have to see it clearly. On that score, there is one man who saw this with such clarity that he acted well ahead of the pack.
The Chinese are creating great jobs in Las Vegas. The Chinese are investing their money in our future and thereby securing their own long-term support for the success of this country. And the Chinese — at the highest levels of government — are joining their hands with ours to build toward a better 21st century.
We are doing it together. And we are doing it because one man with the power to make it happen did not hesitate. He has never hesitated in his quest to make this valley the Silicon Valley of clean energy.
That man is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. All this happened last week because of Harry. You don’t have to take my word for it. You can ask the Chinese, you can ask the Texans, you can ask the American steelworkers and all the workers in Nevada who will benefit from the jobs created here. And you can ask yourselves because common sense tells you I am right.
Whatever questions you do ask, though, please stop asking the most annoying, petty and obviously political one — and that is, what has Harry Reid done for us lately!
He has helped change the entire dynamic between two of the major powers on Earth and he has done it in a way that will benefit tens of thousands of Nevadans and hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Thank you, Sen. Reid. Thank you for creating a future for Nevada that is based on so much more than just some politician’s hot air.
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
