The second main speaker at the Clean Energy Summit was T Boone Pickens who has been putting all those TV ads together, spending HIS OWN MONEY on it to educate the American Public on how we are transferring our wealth to the Middle East for their oil. He has a plan and he has already started investing the money to make the plan work.
In contrast to Clinton his down-home-folksy speaking style suited him and his use of a marker board only enhanced his simple approach to solving our "energy crisis". Even when he would stumble over his words, like Clinton did, he would recover with a simple ease that endeared himself to the people of the opposite party he was speaking to. It was hard NOT to like him.
As to his message. His main argument is that we are transferring $700 billion every year for oil and we can cut that by 38% in the next 5 years. The way to do this is to change all our vehicles from oil based gasoline to natural gas. ALL of our natural gas is produced in the US and it is cleaner and more efficient than gasoline. He says to start with the truck fleets in the nation which upgrade their semi's, on average, every 2 1/2 years, so by 5 years all semi's on the road should be natural gas. All new cars should start soon after. This would bridge the gap between battery powered vehicles which are, realistically, 10 years away from mass appeal. It is a simple conversion to make engines that run on gas to ones that run on natural gas. This is the biggest step. He called on Senator Reid for the tax incentives to make it happen but he believes the market will pay for the rest.
The rest of the oil that is used for power generation (after the 38% used for vehicles) will be locally produced and not Middle East produced but also will be reduced with wind and solar every year to make up for taking Natural Gas out of the electricity generating process.
What impressed me, contrary to Clinton, was that he came carrying a check. He has spent millions already on this project and is intending to spend hundreds of millions if that is what it takes. Money spoke pretty loudly. I wish he was a Nevada Oil Man and not a Texas Oil Man.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Clintonspeak:
So I attended the Clean Energy Summit put on by Harry Reid and UNLV this week. The keynote speaker on Monday night was former President Bill Clinton. I had never heard Clinton speak before (other than on TV when prez and such) and I was definitely not impressed.
Forget the message for a minute but the former President was a mess as a speaker. I have been a Toastmaster for almost 10 years now and speak 3-4 times a week at various groups so I have a little speaking experience. Clinton's speech was a bumbling mess. He tried to speak from some notes he "wrote in the plane on the way here" and it came across like it was a terrible flight. He repeatedly lost his place and referred to point 7 as point 2 and point 8 as his second point and repeated himself or joked until he found his place again. It was to the point that I was uncomfortable for him. I expected a lot more from a guy who gets millions each year just to speak to them.
As to the content of his speech. He showed a depth of knowledge on Alternative Energy that I appreciated. A couple of things like "de-coupling" energy companies that I had not heard of before and his closing on making Nevada a kind of pilot program for total energy independence made me applaud. Clinton did well when he told stories and he could have told a lot more of them. He made great points but I wish his presentation was a lot more professional. With the VAST majority of those attending having Clinton as their hero he got a standing ovation when he was done and the conference went on.
I have said this before and I say it again. Words are great but time slips by as we talk. The time has come to DO something. I would have loved Clinton to put some of his or his foundation's (which he touted over and over again) money into Nevada to make this the pilot program move. We have been SAYING these kind of things since before he was president and still we talk. If he'd have come with a check my ears would have perked up and people from both sides would have cheered.
Forget the message for a minute but the former President was a mess as a speaker. I have been a Toastmaster for almost 10 years now and speak 3-4 times a week at various groups so I have a little speaking experience. Clinton's speech was a bumbling mess. He tried to speak from some notes he "wrote in the plane on the way here" and it came across like it was a terrible flight. He repeatedly lost his place and referred to point 7 as point 2 and point 8 as his second point and repeated himself or joked until he found his place again. It was to the point that I was uncomfortable for him. I expected a lot more from a guy who gets millions each year just to speak to them.
As to the content of his speech. He showed a depth of knowledge on Alternative Energy that I appreciated. A couple of things like "de-coupling" energy companies that I had not heard of before and his closing on making Nevada a kind of pilot program for total energy independence made me applaud. Clinton did well when he told stories and he could have told a lot more of them. He made great points but I wish his presentation was a lot more professional. With the VAST majority of those attending having Clinton as their hero he got a standing ovation when he was done and the conference went on.
I have said this before and I say it again. Words are great but time slips by as we talk. The time has come to DO something. I would have loved Clinton to put some of his or his foundation's (which he touted over and over again) money into Nevada to make this the pilot program move. We have been SAYING these kind of things since before he was president and still we talk. If he'd have come with a check my ears would have perked up and people from both sides would have cheered.
Friday, August 1, 2008
The Perks of Big City Government Working in Nevada
Check out E!! The True Conservative Story's article about the Perks of Public Office.
You will find Clark County Government workers are paid up to three times MORE than rural County employees!
Who is standing up for Rural Nevada?
You will find Clark County Government workers are paid up to three times MORE than rural County employees!
Who is standing up for Rural Nevada?
Now THAT is a good question!
Props to Phoebe Sweet of the LVS for her questions to the Las Vegas Valley Water Authority in their plans to pump water from Rural Nevada to Vegas. Read the article here.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Where are the Environmentalists?
State Water Engineer Tracy Taylor agreed to allow the Las Vegas Valley Water Authority to pump 6 BILLION gallons of water a year from rural Nevada to quench an overheated Las Vegas. Did you hear that? SIX BILLION GALLONS A YEAR from our farmers and ranchers AND pristine Nevada desert! LVRJ
Where are the environmentalist protesters? Where are the discussions on fish, turtles, rabbits and plants that will be destroyed with this water drainage. I don't understand how all the all this can happen without hundreds of lawsuits filed by US Fish and Wildlife, Sierra Club, Forestry Services and even Indian Reservations! This doesn't just effect the farmers and ranchers.
Every time a farmer wants to move a water right permit from one field down the road a mile to another field HE OWNS he get hit with 100 lawsuits from these groups. Now LVVWA is moving billions, and piping it a couple HUNDRED MILES there is not a peep from US Fish and Wildlife. Can someone answer where these people are on this?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
BLM Pushes Solar Power back FIVE YEARS!
We've been hearing about it now for a few weeks but the Fed's, the BLM: Bureau of Lame Management, er, sorry, the Bureau of LAND Management has decided to put a moratorium on disposing of or leasing land for Solar projects. They complain that they have gotten "so many" applications in the last few years that they need to do an environmental impact study to see if the new shade offered to the desert turtles will hurt them or not. Read the PVT article.
They want to push any approvals back for 22 months! That is almost TWO YEARS! How long does it take to find out whether a turtle likes the shade of a solar panel or not? Add that two years to the current THREE YEAR process to get the proper permits and we are still at least FIVE YEARS away from any new Solar Power in rural Nevada. That is not even counting the time it take to build the solar or wind plants.
I put this solidly in Senate MAJORITY Leader Harry Reid's lap. He is the freekin' head of the US Senate with a majority in Congress and what have we seen for all his LIP SERVICE to renewables in Nevada. Back when new coal plants were being proposed and he came out saying "over my dead body" he should have said "No to coal but I will get the BLM to release 50,000 acres for solar and wind projects"
I am TIRED of the lip service to renewables by ALL OUR POLITICIANS. It seems like this Ed Goedhart from Nye County is the ONLY ONE who gets it!
They want to push any approvals back for 22 months! That is almost TWO YEARS! How long does it take to find out whether a turtle likes the shade of a solar panel or not? Add that two years to the current THREE YEAR process to get the proper permits and we are still at least FIVE YEARS away from any new Solar Power in rural Nevada. That is not even counting the time it take to build the solar or wind plants.
I put this solidly in Senate MAJORITY Leader Harry Reid's lap. He is the freekin' head of the US Senate with a majority in Congress and what have we seen for all his LIP SERVICE to renewables in Nevada. Back when new coal plants were being proposed and he came out saying "over my dead body" he should have said "No to coal but I will get the BLM to release 50,000 acres for solar and wind projects"
I am TIRED of the lip service to renewables by ALL OUR POLITICIANS. It seems like this Ed Goedhart from Nye County is the ONLY ONE who gets it!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
What the F***?!?!
Okay I am getting a little tired of Nevada bloggers. I search the blog sphere for insight into the temperature of Nevada thought and action. But most of what I seem to find are rants against everything Jim Gibbons and everything George Bush. I have not read calm, concise, and concrete blogs that will state a point of view without relying on name calling and using bad language. It is as if because they DARE to use bad language on a blog they should be legitimate.
There is a true story out of the formerly (maybe soon again) Communist Russia where a group of children who were exposed to ranting and raving about how bad democracy was and how screwed up Christianity was and that anyone would be "out of their mind" to believe in those corrupt Capitalist systems. They were ranted about through grade school, middle school, and high school, but when they got to college they started thinking, "With all this ranting and raving we have been hearing all these years our government must be afraid of something?" So they checked it out, REALLY checked it out away from all the propaganda and became the leaders in the NEW Russian revolution to rid itself of Communism.
Why do I tell you this story? Because the more ranting and raving I see on the Nevada blogs the more fear I see of the OPPOSITE view. A calm, realistic exchange of ideas shows you have confidence in your opinion where a rant shows you are scared of the opposite opinion and need to rely on volume and not on truth.
Think about it. Calm, disciplined and healthy debate over substantial issues is PRO Nevada!
There is a true story out of the formerly (maybe soon again) Communist Russia where a group of children who were exposed to ranting and raving about how bad democracy was and how screwed up Christianity was and that anyone would be "out of their mind" to believe in those corrupt Capitalist systems. They were ranted about through grade school, middle school, and high school, but when they got to college they started thinking, "With all this ranting and raving we have been hearing all these years our government must be afraid of something?" So they checked it out, REALLY checked it out away from all the propaganda and became the leaders in the NEW Russian revolution to rid itself of Communism.
Why do I tell you this story? Because the more ranting and raving I see on the Nevada blogs the more fear I see of the OPPOSITE view. A calm, realistic exchange of ideas shows you have confidence in your opinion where a rant shows you are scared of the opposite opinion and need to rely on volume and not on truth.
Think about it. Calm, disciplined and healthy debate over substantial issues is PRO Nevada!
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