Editorial: Greens target another clean Nevada energy project

The Editorial Board, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Jul 24, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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Green energy advocates insist that Nevada can be a leader in the field given its natural resources and copious sunshine. But that would require the development of those resources — something many of those same green activists aren’t prepared to abide by.

The U.S. Geological Survey in May concluded that geothermal energy in Nevada’s Great Basin has the potential to supply 10 percent of the nation’s current electricity usage. Geothermal — which harnesses natural heat within the Earth — now supplies less than 1%.

The Bureau of Land Management has 23 operating geothermal plants in Nevada — mostly in the northern part of the state — and expects that to “greatly increase” in coming years. The state and counties share in the proceeds generated by such plants, which can be an important revenue source for struggling rural communities.

Yet roadblocks to expansion of geothermal abound — and they include progressive environmental groups that routinely exploit the legal system in an effort to delay or kill energy development, green or traditional.

Last week, the Center for Biological Diversity said it will sue the Trump administration for fast tracking Nevada geothermal projects, including a development in Dixie Valley, northeast of Fallon. The center argues the project threatens an endangered toad, and that the president acted inappropriately in declaring an “energy emergency” to expedite environmental reviews of energy plants on public land.

“Presidents don’t have unilateral authority to declare an emergency where one doesn’t exist so they can do whatever they want,” Patrick Donnelly, the center’s Great Basin director, told the Nevada Current.

Donnelly isn’t wrong. There are legitimate legal issues in play involving the “energy emergency.” But in this case, that objection is a fig leaf to obscure the fact that the Donnelly’s organization has for years sued to block numerous energy and other projects throughout the Silver State, including certain solar farms, geothermal projects and mines necessary to provide the materials for EV batteries.

Needless to say, the folks at the Center for Biological Diversity are no fan of traditional energy sources, so it remains a mystery how they believe the nation is to fuel an economy that provides Americans with the world’s highest living standard.

The White House move is an understandable response to a real concern: Environmental red tape, a hidebound bureaucracy and the green litigation industry have made it difficult and expensive to build things in this country, from infrastructure to housing to geothermal plants. All energy development — even the green kind — requires trade-offs, and the nation’s prosperity requires the development of a diverse and reliable energy portfolio. Simply shouting “no” and standing in the way is not a solution.

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