Tag Archive | "Barack Obama"

Obama touts green energy during BC visit


By Laura Myers, Special to Boulder City Review

President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged to keep investing government tax dollars in clean energy development, using a visit to a solar power plant outside Boulder City to promote his energy plan.

President Barack Obama, second from right, tours Sempra Energy's Copper Mountain Solar One energy plant on Wednesday. From left is Sempra U.S. Gas & Power CEO Jeffrey Martin, Sempra operations manager John Sowers, Obama, and Sempra operations manager Kevin Gillespie. Photo by Jessica Ebelhar.

He also called on Congress to end $4 billion in U.S. subsidies to the oil industry, saying a century of such help is enough and more government money should go toward solar, wind and geothermal energy investment.

“As long as I’m president, we will not walk away from the promise of clean energy,” Obama said.

The president was addressing more than 100 invited guests at Sempra Energy’s Copper Mountain Solar 1 Plant in Boulder City.

The guests included many city officials including Mayor Roger Tobler, Councilmen Cam Walker, Duncan McCoy and Rod Woodbury, and City Manager Vicki Mayes.

Tobler said Eldorado Valley is the perfect place for renewable energy, not just because it has plenty of sunshine, but also because the city owns the land with good access to transmission lines.

“We did have the infrastructure and we’re using the land for what I believe to be its best use,” said Tobler, adding most citizens didn’t want high-user development such as commercial and residential. “We’re following the plan (for which) we purchased the Eldorado Valley (in 1995). This area was set aside for that so we’re following the vision that was set there by prior elected officials.”

Councilman Walker said the community made a huge investment in the energy zone, but the city can’t be successful without the government’s help.

“It’s going to take cooperation from the federal government, particularly (Bureau of Land Management) and also the Energy Department in making sure there’s access and opportunity to purchase the power that is generated,” Walker said.

The Bureau of Land Management owns some of the rightofways the transmission lines running from Boulder City cross.

The city acquired the Eldorado Valley, where the solar plants sit, through a transfer agreement in 1995 that set aside the land for development only as a “desert tortoise preserve, public recreation land and as a possible site for a solar power peaking station.”

Obama’s visit to Boulder City, the first by a sitting president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, was his first stop on a two-day, four-state visit to promote both renewable energy and oil and gas development.

Obama derided some Republican opponents in Congress, although not by name, for not backing U.S. investment in renewable energy. He called them members of the “flat Earth society.” He said it’s a waste of tax money to continue a century’s worth of U.S. subsidies to the oil industry.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Obama said. “I don’t think it’s a wise use of your tax dollars.”

He said the solar plant he was visiting can now power 17,000 homes and another plant is under construction that would power another 45,000 homes. Under development is a third solar plant that can provide energy to yet another 66,000 homes.

Obama said that his administration has approved some 16 solar projects that could one day power up to 2 million homes. He acknowledged that not every project will succeed, although he did not mention the Solyndra project that got tens of millions of dollars in federal help under Obama and recently went belly up. Republicans have heavily criticized that failure.

Boulder City is the perfect site for solar projects, enjoying 320 days of sunshine a year, he said, and with access to power transmission lines.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for the community,” Obama said, noting hundreds of construction workers got jobs and are helping the still suffering Nevada economy and jobless situation. “This is not just happening here in Boulder City.”

Obama criticized congressional opponents who call renewable energy employment “phony jobs” because they only last as long as the project is being built, while relatively few workers are needed to maintain clean energy plants.

“These politicians need to come to Boulder City and see what I’m seeing,” he said. “They should talk to the people who are involved in this industry, who have benefitted from these jobs. … When it comes to new technology the pay off isn’t going to come right away.”

The president argued the government needs to help “jump start” the projects to get them going.

“We’re not going to walk away from places like Boulder City,” he said. “I’m not going to give up on the new to cede our position to China or Germany or all the other competitors out there who are making massive investments in clean energy technology. I refuse to see us stand by and not make the same commitment.”

Obama mentioned Hoover Dam and the city’s place in the history of energy projects.

“You know the promise that lies ahead because this city has always been about the future,” he said. “Eight decades ago, in the midst of the Great Depression, the people of Boulder City were busy working on another energy project you may have heard of. Like today, it was a little bit ahead of its time. It was a little bit bigger than this solar plant, it was a little louder, too. It was called the Hoover Dam. And at the time, it was the largest dam in the world. Even today, it stands as a testimony to American ingenuity, American imagination, the power of the American spirit a testimony to the notion we can do anything.”

Obama arrived at McCarran International Airport at 11:25 a.m., drove to Boulder City for a tour and speech and left about 2 p.m. He also planned to visit New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio to talk about oil and gas exploration as well as renewable energy.

Boulder City editor Arnold M. Knightly and Review-Journal reporter Kristi Jourdan contributed to this report.

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Stopover shines spotlight on city


A Cameraman from KTNV Channel 13 news from Las Vegas films file footage outside Back In Thyme antique store on Tuesday, March 20. President Barack Obama's visit to Boulder City brought news cameras to the area to interview residents and city officials about the visit. Mayor Roger Tobler appeared on "Face To Face with Jon Ralston" on Wednesday, which airs in Las Vegas, Reno and Elko. Photo by Arnold M. Knightly.

By Rose Ann Miele & Arnold M. Knightly, Boulder City Review

The visit by President Barack Obama on Wednesday to the Eldorado Valley shined a light not only on solar energy, but Boulder City’s role in helping the energy companies establish their plants.

Mayor Roger Tobler said it is about time people outside the area notice what is happening in the city.

“We’re just proud and excited by what we’ve been accomplishing down in the energy zone as a city,” Tobler said. “Finally we are starting to see some awareness and recognition of the fact that we’re leading the way in solar energy. Of course, these aren’t our plants, but this is something we’ve been working on for eight years.”

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Traffic alert for president’s visit


By Police Chief Thomas Finn, Special to Boulder City Review

President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas late Wednesday morning.
He will visit Sempra Energy’s Copper Mountain Solar Energy Plant in Boulder
City and then return to McCarran International Airport immediately afterward.

At approximately 11:55 a.m., Boulder City Police will shut down U.S. Highway 93
northbound at the Veterans Memorial Drive intersection to all traffic for
approximately 30-40 minutes to accommodate the movement of the President’s
motorcade. At approximately 1:40 p.m. all northbound traffic on U.S. 93 at
Veterans Memorial Drive will be shut down again for 30-40 minutes until the
motorcade passes through the area.

Northbound traffic on U.S. Highway 93 from Arizona will be given the option of
taking Lakeshore Drive through Lake Mead National Recreation Area as an alternative to get to Henderson and Las Vegas.
That will be the only route out of Boulder City during the two road
closures. I anticipate severe congestion throughout the city during the
closures and we will do what we can to clear up traffic as soon as the road
opens. I strongly suggest you avoid Nevada Highway, Nevada Way and our
downtown business district between the hours of noon and 3 p.m.
tomorrow.

Please do not call our dispatch center for updates on traffic conditions.
I expect us to be deluged with calls from the public and have three
dispatchers on duty between noon and 4 p.m. to handle the call volume. Thank
you in advance for your patience and understanding, and please spread the
word to your friends and family about tomorrow’s event. We need to get the
word out to as many people as possible to mitigate the congestion we will
undoubtedly experience.

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Energy allocation from dam extended: Hoover Dam supplies nearly 47 percent of Boulder City’s power


By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

Boulder City can rest assured that its energy costs will remain somewhat stable in the future thanks to the U.S. Congress extending the city’s allocation of Hoover Dam power for the next 55 years.

The Hoover Power Allocation Act of 2011, a bill signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 20, extends the contract for the various entities using dam power until the year 2067.

Hoover Dam is seen from the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tilman Memorial Bridge in August 2010. Photo by Steve Andrascik

The current agreement dates back to 1984 and was set to expire in 2017, leaving the power contractors in California, Arizona and Nevada with the possibility that allocations could have been altered with the contract’s renewal.

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