Scientist getting state prize lobbies Gibbons

CARSON CITY -- An internationally known climate scientist who will receive the Nevada Medal today in Reno has challenged Gov. Jim Gibbons on his support for new coal-fired power plants in the state.

In a letter Monday to Gibbons, James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, questioned plans for the plants proposed for eastern Nevada and urged the governor to "come down firmly on the side of clean energy and energy efficiency."

Hansen, getting the state Desert Research Institute's Nevada Medal at an event co-chaired by first lady Dawn Gibbons, said the governor should block permits for the coal-fired plants until there are "concrete plans" for capturing pollutants that contribute to global warming.

The scientist also said he hoped that Gibbons, a Republican, would base his decision on what's good for the state and the planet rather than on party-line considerations. Gibbons' stance on the power plants has put him at odds with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Instead of coal-fired plants that produce carbon dioxide emissions, Hansen said, Nevada could become a leader in solar energy production.

"There is enough solar energy in a small fraction of our desert Southwest to provide all of the electrical needs of the United States," he said.

Hansen, a political independent, is no stranger to controversy. In late 2006, he accused the Bush administration of trying to silence him after a speech on global warming.

Gibbons spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said the governor wants "to set Nevada on a path for energy independence" that includes renewable power sources. But he added that Gibbons sees clean-coal technology as part of that goal.

Kieckhefer said the coal-fired plant that Sierra Pacific Resources wants to build near Ely would help meet the state's power needs and would help promote new methods of capturing pollutants.

A cross-state power transmission line that would be part of the Sierra project also would give renewable energy companies in remote areas a way to get their power onto the grid, he added.

The governor, listed as a co-chairman of the DRI event, won't attend today because he is going to a Republican Governors' Association meeting in Texas, Kieckhefer said.

Coal plants provide more than half of the nation's electricity. They are the largest domestic source of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, emitting 2 billion tons annually, or about one-third of the country's total.