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Thursday, April 6, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Nevada Legislature
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Not to be party poopers, but NV Energy and some Nevada lawmakers are looking to outlaw certain balloons used to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.
And their reason has left over a million people in the dark — literally.
The leading cause of power outages for the state’s biggest electric utility is not related to weather or equipment failures.
It’s foil party balloons drifting into power lines and causing electrical faults that can knock out power and start fires, Democratic Assemblyman Max Carter of Las Vegas said.
Carter introduced a bill last month to phase out balloons with any “shiny metallic film” that conducts electricity in favor of similar balloons made without electrically conductive properties.
Ryan Bellows, vice president of government affairs for NV Energy, told the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor last week that foil balloons have caused more than 1,300 power outages over the past nine years, affecting more than a million customers.
“Over the past several years, these foil balloons have become the leading cause of outages for NV Energy,” Bellows said. “These contacts create sparks and fire, and it’s a dangerous task to actually remove these as they melt into the line and they have to be removed by hand.”
Carter said California and some other states have passed similar legislation banning foil balloons. Newer technology allows for manufacturing balloons that resist conducting electricity.
Should those standards not come out by the time the law would go into effect, the bill contains provisions for a 24-month pause to allow for the sale of foil balloons until balloon manufacturers can adhere to the new regulations, Bellows said.
Under the proposed bill, a person who manufactures foil balloons in Nevada would need to include permanent marks that identify the manufacturer of the balloon and if that balloon meets the new P2845 standards, which are set to be formally approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the coming months.
“By ensuring that materials used in these balloons do not conduct electricity, this measure mitigates the risk of balloon-caused electrical faults and power outages while continuing to allow manufacturers and retailers to sell celebratory foil balloons,” Carter, a freshman member of the Assembly and former electrician, told the committee. “We’re not looking at outlawing your kids’ pretty, foil balloons. What we’re looking at is following the technology and finding a good compromise.”
The bill would prohibit the sale or distribution of a foil balloon filled with any gas lighter than air — such as helium — unless it is either affixed to a weight or if the balloon comes with conductive string or streamer. That portion would go into effect immediately after the bill is signed into law.
Any foil balloon sold in Nevada, according to the bill, must be tested in accordance with the standards set forth in the bill. If passed, foil balloons under the old standard would be phased out beginning in 2024, until 100% of all foil balloons sold here must be tested under the proposed standard by June 2027.
After then, violators could face civil penalties of up to $50 for each balloon sold with a maximum penalty of $2,500 for each day on which a violation occurs.
During the public comment period, representatives from International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Southwest Gas; Las Vegas Metro Police; the cities of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas; and the Professional Firefighters of Nevada, the largest statewide union for firefighters; and other stakeholders all testified in support of the bill.
Bryan Wachter, director of public and government affairs at the Retail Association of Nevada, testified in opposition to the bill over concerns about whether the supply chain could react quickly enough to the legislation.
“We haven’t gotten to the point yet where testing is occurring on any new material tak balloons that may be being processed,” Wachter said. “We are encouraged, spoke to proponents of the bill, and there is a desire perhaps to move back some of those dates to be able to be in compliance. We certainly would rather be on the same timeline as California so that the supply chain is able to be as efficiently introduced to this new requirement as possible.”
Wachter continued: “But we think under the current form, it is entirely possible that this would go into effect and there would be zero foil balloons that would be able to be sold, just because those are currently on the market.”
