Think about it...NEVADA....DESSERT.....HOT SUN....SOLAR PANELS.....and then you have the Dirty Energy Hordes with MEGA MONEY....
RENEWABLE ENERGY creates American jobs, keep the environment CLEAN.....
Sheldon Adelson Wants to Kill Bill That Would Make Nevada a Renewable Energy Powerhouse
David Pomerantz, Energy and Policy Institute
Pomerantz writes: "The Nevada Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would dramatically increase the growth of renewable energy in the state, but Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and major donor to Donald Trump, is attempting to prevent the bill from becoming law."
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David Pomerantz, Energy and Policy Institute
Pomerantz writes: "The Nevada Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would dramatically increase the growth of renewable energy in the state, but Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and major donor to Donald Trump, is attempting to prevent the bill from becoming law."
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Sheldon Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (photo: Getty)
he Nevada Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would dramatically increase the growth of renewable energy in the state, but Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and major donor to Donald Trump, is attempting to prevent the bill from becoming law.
The bill, AB 206, would ensure that Nevada gets 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2040. AB 206 passed the assembly with bipartisan support by a margin of 30 to 12, but it must now pass the Senate and be signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Adelson owns the Las Vegas Sands casino giant, and is known in national political circles for the massive amounts of money he has plowed into Republican coffers; he spent $100 million in the 2012 election cycle, and then donated $35 million to the super PAC that supported Donald Trump's general election campaign last year, plus another $5 million to Trump's inauguration.
Given Adelson's support for conservative politicians, clean energy supporters considered it a happy coup in 2016 when the Sands Corporation threw money behind a ballot initiative that would allow electric customers to defect from the monopoly utility NV Energy.
Sands was the biggest bankroller of the committee that backed the ballot initiative, Nevadans for Affordable, Clean Energy Choices. The company didn't shy away from saying that their support for the initiative was motivated by a desire to use electricity from cleaner sources than NV Energy had on offer, garnering it fawning press in Nevada and globally.
"… The company maintains a strong desire to purchase and use the cleanest and most cost efficient energy available on the open market," a Sands spokesperson said in a statement about its support for the ballot initiative.
Adelson Pulls a Bait and Switch on Renewable Energy
Now, however, it's clear that while Adelson may want Sands to have the ability to defect from NV Energy, his motives were not as green as advertised last year.
Sands testified last month against AB 206, along with Wynn Resorts and the Nevada Resort Association (NRA). Why would Adelson, who spent all of 2016 saying that he wanted Sands to power with renewable energy, now be lobbying against legislation to move Nevada in that very direction?
The answer is likely that the bill language not only holds NV Energy to the increased renewable energy standard, but also any companies that defect from the utility, which could soon be Sands.
Adelson seems to want to maintain his company's unfettered ability to buy not only renewable energy, but also as much natural gas as he wants, for as long as he wants, as well.
"We feel that this just isn't the time to codify these mandates," Sands lobbyist Chase Whittemore said about the bill, according to the Nevada Independent. NV Energy also fought the bill, introducing unsuccessfulamendments to neuter it.
Is Adelson Funding a New Dark Money Group to Kill Nevada Renewable Energy Growth?
The lobbying against AB 206 by Sands, Wynn, the Resort Association and NV Energy did not seem to slow down the bill's progress in the assembly, but the casino operators and NV Energy may have another trick up their sleeves: a new dark-money group is making a final two-week push to kill the bill in the Senate or on Gov. Sandoval's desk. The Independent reported this week:
"A new nonprofit that does not disclose its donors plans to spend six figures in the last two weeks of the Legislature to try to defeat a renewable energy measure opposed by most gaming companies."
The non-profit, called "Secure Nevada's Future," registered with Nevada as a non-profit organization in April, listing Texas as its qualifying state. Its list of officers is due May 31. The group seems to have aFacebook page which also became active in April.
As long as Secure Nevada's Future refuses to disclose its donors, it's impossible to know if Adelson, Wynn, NV Energy or some other mystery opponents of increased renewable energy is funding the effort, but longtime Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston wrote that "it's a reasonable assumption that major businesses are funding the operation."
Ralston reported that the one person publicly associated with the group as its executive director, Chris Young, used to work for Chris Carr while at the RNC; Carr now runs Wynn's political operation. Carr hadpreviously run a non-profit, "Engage Nevada" that received significant funding from Adelson personally, as well as from NV Energy.
Conflict of Interest Among Nevada Resort Association Lobbyists
While Adelson's Sands Corporation tries to kill the strong renewable energy standard, another casino company, the MGM Grand Corporation, has actually shown that its commitment to renewable energy is more than just greenwashing. The company came out publicly in support of AB 206 earlier this week.
Like Wynn and Sands, MGM Grand is a member of the Nevada Resort Association—more than 10 of its properties are named as NRA member resorts, and MGM is listed on the NRA's board, along with Wynn.
But despite MGM's support for renewable energy growth, the NRA has sided with Wynn, Sands and NV Energy. The internal politics that drove that decision aren't public, but it's possible that some conflicts of interest among the NRA's lobbyists may be a contributing factor.
Carson City is a small town, and lobbyists commonly represent multiple interests, but a review of lobbyists for NV Energy, MGM Grand, Wynn, Sands, the NRA and Caesars revealed that the only overlap was between NV Energy and the NRA, and that overlap was significant: Of 12 lobbyists listed for NV Energy, seven are also lobbyists for the NRA. Those lobbyists are Morgan Baumgartner, Pete Ernaut, Greg Ferraro, Lorne Malkiewich, Nivk Vassiliadis, Nicole Willis-Grimes and Paul Young.
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Some previous articles:
RSN: Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Shifts Strategy to Help GOP Win in 2016, ...the Coup in Kiev, Recycling One Aluminum Can Will Power a Laptop for More Than Five Hours. et al
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Shifts Strategy to Help GOP Win in 2016
Matea Gold and Philip Rucker, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who along with his wife plowed more than $92 million into efforts to help mostly losing candidates in the 2012 elections, is undertaking a new strategy for 2016 - to tap his fortune on behalf of a more mainstream Republican with a clear shot to win the White House, according to people familiar with his thinking."
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Another Limit on Campaign Contributions
Sad commentary!
EXCERPT:
Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress breaks down exactly what the decision does, and why it is so harmful:
What McCutcheon invalidates are aggregate limits on the total amount of money that donors may give to all federal candidates ($48,600) and to all political committees ($74,600). Thus, before Wednesday, donors could spend as much as $123,200 seeking to influence the 2014 election cycle — now they can spend as much as they want. Make no mistake, this decision benefits no one except for a handful of very wealthy donors. Who else can say that they’ve already given more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of donations and that they are upset that they cannot give even more?
The previous landmark campaign finance case, 2010′s Citizens United, struck down limits on campaign expenditures by independent groups. This paved the way for the explosion of super-PACs and gave billionaires like the Koch Brothers and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson the ability to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to influence the 2012 election.
RSN: Why Are We Still Asking if a Dying Woman Should Be Able to Get an Abortion to Save Her Life?, Sheldon Adelson Faces New Scrutiny as Documents Challenge His Testimony, America's Richest Congressman, Worth Almost $500 Million, Says Poor Americans Are Doing Great,
President-Elect Donald Trump’s Strong Las Vegas Ties Could Impact Casinos and Gambling Legislation
Sheldon Adelson’s casino company pays a pittance
With the agreement, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) resolved twin probes of more than $60 million paid to an unnamed agent retained in 2006 to acquire a Chinese basketball team, plus other business dealings that include a Beijing real estate deal to promote casinos on the Cotai Strip of Macao, U.S. Justice Department and FBI officials said.
RSN: The Story Sheldon Adelson Didn't Want You to Read, The US Uses More Electricity on Christmas Lights Than These Entire Countries Do All Year
RSN: Watchdog Group Seeks Probe of Billionaire Sheldon Adelson's US Political Donations
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