From the Salt Lake Tribune: Protesters and proponents from two states filled a city hall auditorium in the Nevada border city of Mesquite to air concerns about a company's proposal to build a coal-fired power plant nearby.
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The state is considering whether to issue an air quality permit for Sithe Global Power, a subsidiary of private equity giant Blackstone Group of New York, to build the 750-megawatt, coal-fired Toquop Energy Project.
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The company, which plans to burn coal from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, also needs environmental approval from the Bureau of Land Management. It hopes to begin construction by March 2009 and power generation by 2013.
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Assemblyman Joe Hardy, a Republican doctor who represents the area, Clark County commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Tom Collins, and Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck were applauded when they took turns criticizing the project.

As China and southern Nevada suffer the coldest weather in years, every politician and easily confused citizen still clings to global warming as the apocalypse that evangelicals have embraced for centuries. Granted that environmental issues always need to be addressed but is it reasonable to oppose every project to provide energy to the valley while approving every casino and development, especially in the face of no water. It is easy for politicians to support NIMBYprotests (Not In My Back Yard) but I am waiting to hear what the alternative proposals are. Perhaps no more building? No, they haven't paved the whole valley--yet--so I doubt that is an alternative. The other question I have is how many of the politicians we have today will be living here tomorrow when southern Nevada is living with the consequences.