Moving toward 'green' jobs in Nevada's public and private sectors

Today, I read the following from Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid’s office:

Washington, DC—Nevada Harry Reid released the following statement today following his White House meeting with the President to discuss ways to spur job creation:

“Today’s meeting with the President reinforces our shared commitment to creating more jobs and providing relief to the millions of Americans who are out of work.  President Obama inherited the worst economic crisis in generations and has brought our nation back from the brink.  But too many families are still hurting, and it’s critical that we do everything possible to create jobs and strengthen the economy.

“We’re optimistic about the prospects of using renewable energy legislation to create green jobs while promoting energy efficiency.  In addition, we need to continue working toward ensuring that more families can stay in their current homes and continue efforts to strengthen the housing market by extending the homebuyer tax credit.  We also need to think about creative, innovative ways to encourage businesses to create new jobs and we’re committed to working with the President to do that. 

 “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other legislation passed this year is already making a real difference.  We need to ensure that the recovery funds get out the door as quickly and effectively as possible while also enacting new ideas to get more Americans back to work and the economy back on track.” 

To this end, we wrapped up three highly productive and exciting days at the 33rd Annual Geothermal Resources Council national conference, held in Reno, Nevada. My employer, Huffman & Carpenter, Inc. - a full spectrum environmental sciences, regulatory and permitting consulting firm - participated as an exhibitor at the conference. We met and spoke with geothermal/renewable energy experts from around the world, attended seminars and generally learned a lot more about the potential of this clean energy source.

Needless to say, perhaps, we fully understand the enormous potential Nevada has to offer ‘green’ renewable energy jobs - even more critical considering that Nevada was one of the states most hardest hit by the economic downturn.

Nevada’s geothermal potential is second only to that of California, and we have some of the nations’ leading experts on geothermal right here. Unfortunately, previous administrations let the geothermal potential wither on the vine and now everybody is in the position of having to start from darn near zero. One woman from the Department of Energy lamented that they had gone from “zero to 60” and scrambling to develop programs to match the new, increased funding levels.

Fortunately, with the renewed interest and available money wandering around the conference in the form of eager investors sensing that this is a time of rare opportunity, bringing jobs to bear on Nevada’s current 10% unemployment rate paints a picture that is positive in the mid to long term. If Nevada’s state and local governments get on board, much in the manner of future minded businesses like the Peppermill Hotel and Casino - geothermal powered - we could be looking at the beginning of boom times again but based on a longterm, sustainable energy producing model.

maven

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Nevada Unemployment Trends - August 2009

Nevada Unemployment Trend Heat Maps:
A map of Nevada Unemployment in August 2009 (BLS data)
http://www.localetrends.com/st/nv_nevada_unemployment.php?MAP_TYPE=curr_ue

versus Nevada Unemployment Levels 1 year ago
http://www.localetrends.com/st/nv_nevada_unemployment.php?MAP_TYPE=m12_ue