Reid Secures Funding For New Green Facility In Boulder City

Senator helps acquire economic recovery funding through Department of Interior

Nevada Senator Harry Reid today announced $13.5 million of economic recovery funding for the design and construction of a new office building in Boulder City to house Lower Colorado Region water operations center staff and other employees.

This funding will create jobs for the construction of the facility. The building will be designed and constructed in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program to meet the most current energy and water conservation standards, potentially using solar panels to provide power for the building and other facilities surrounding it. It will reduce the Region’s water and energy costs and cut down travel time between facilities.

“In light of last week’s new unemployment numbers, it is clear, we must do everything we can to create jobs in Nevada and that is why I am glad we were able to bring this funding to our state,” Reid said. “As more of this recovery funding arrives in Nevada, our economy will continue moving toward the better days ahead.”

The Bureau of Reclamation will invest nationally $1 billion under the economic recovery package to repair America’s water infrastructure and help address the country’s long-term water supply challenges. Of the $1 billion invested through Reclamation, $107.9 million will go to projects in the Lower Colorado Region.

Reid Remarks On Earth Day

Senator Harry Reid made the following statement today at the Senate Earth Day Celebration:

“People sometimes ask me why I care about the environment.  It is one of the easiest questions for me to answer.

“I grew up in Searchlight, Nevada – a dry and dusty mining town in the driest state in the country.  There were a lot of things Searchlight didn’t have.  We didn’t have a grocery store, a high school, or even a doctor’s office.  We didn’t have radio reception unless the weather was just right.  And there wasn’t a tree in sight.

“On rare occasions, my father would take my brothers and me to Piute Spring.  It was a half-hour’s drive away – and a tough drive at that – down unpaved, graded roads.

“But what a treat is was when we got there – water gushing out and flowing for miles into the desert.  I can still see the ponds, lily pads and the wetland plants we called cat-tails that grew there.

“As I grew up, that oasis was as close to paradise as I could imagine.

“When I got married, one of the first places I took my new wife was to see this idyllic spot that, in my childhood, seemed to be a whole different world.  I had told her about the pristine place I remembered, the plants and grass greener than anything you could find within miles of Searchlight.

“We drove the half-hour drive along those rocky desert roads.  When we got there, to my shock and sadness, I saw that it had been trashed.  Someone had since set fire to the lush landscape.  Vandals had knocked down the rocks that had given Piute Spring its unique terrain and texture.

“That’s when I first realized how precious our natural resources are, and how hard we have to work to preserve them.  That’s when I became an environmentalist.

“Earth Day is a day to appreciate the tremendous beauty of those small, special places just as much as it is about the larger planet we must protect.  It is a reminder to recommit ourselves to finding the right balance that preserves our environment even as we live in it day by day.

“At no time in our history has that balance teetered as dangerously as it does today.  The mistakes of past have come back to haunt the present.

“Just as Piute Spring had been robbed of its beauty, an island of plastic garbage twice the size of Texas now poisons the Pacific Ocean.  Pollutants cover the floors of our rivers and harbors.  More than 150 million Americans breathe in unhealthy air.  And our addiction to oil has consequences so far and wide, it has become its own category of crisis.

“Changing the way America gets and uses its energy is about more than just protecting our environment.  It is also about reviving our economy and strengthening our national security.

“We already have the tools at our fingertips to invest in energy efficiency and tap into the enormous potential right in our own backyard.

“Renewable energy is everywhere you look – from the bright sun that beats down on Nevada and the West, to the wind that blows over the Rockies, through the Great Plains and around the Great Lakes.  From the water that powers electricity in Northwest and off our coasts, to the biomass that grows in the Southeast.

“No, the challenge is not feasibility.  It is only the political will to do what is right before it is too late.

“That is why the very first act this new Senate passed was one of the most important conservation bills in a generation – protecting more than 2 million acres of wilderness, more than 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers, and thousands of miles of new trails for future generations to enjoy.

“It is why in both the economic recovery plan and the budget that the Senate passed this year, we insisted on including investments that will lead to new green jobs that can never be outsourced.

“It is why I have written a bill to deliver clean energy from the remote areas where it is developed to the major population centers around the country where it is needed most.

“It is why this year we will renew our fight for a National Renewable Energy Standard that will create new industries, new technologies and new jobs – and save consumers money in the process.

“And it is why, with the leadership and perseverance of the Architect of the Capitol and the officers of the House and Senate, we have made serious progress in greening the buildings where Congress works.  We will continue making the legislative branch the model of energy efficiency and environmental performance.

“We are firing the first shots of a clean energy revolution.  But we must see this fight all the way through.  We can no longer afford to ignore what science tells us about the health of our planet.  The symptoms are serious and require our immediate attention.

“The founder of this great event was a Senator from Wisconsin named Gaylord Nelson.  Shortly before the first Earth Day 39 years ago, he came to the Senate floor and warned, ‘America has bought environmental disaster on the installment plan: Buy affluence now and let future generations pay the price.’

“Nearly four decades later, we must do more to get ourselves off that plan.  We must do more to cultivate a society where fulfilling our responsibilities to nature becomes second nature.

“We must do more so that a child who today cherishes a creek, or a forest, or a mountain like I cherished Piute Spring will one day return to find it as clean and green as he remembered it.”

Reid Announces Grant Benefitting Nevada Families

Nevada Senator Harry Reid today announced that Nevada will receive a funding boost of $5 million over the next two years from the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the new resources will be used by the state and partner community organizations to help low-income families in Nevada. Direct assistance provided with the block grant include one-time rental and utility payments, food and clothing vouchers, job training, child care, and medical care for children. With the economic downturn hurting an increasing number of Nevadans, the extra recovery funding will be used to help our communities meet the growing need for these services.

The grant funding of $5 million under the Act is in addition to the approximately $3 million of CSBG funding received by Nevada each year. The twelve Community Action Agencies designated by the state to receive CSBG funding are Carson City Health & Human Services, Churchill County Social Services, Community Services Agency of Washoe County, Consolidated Agencies of Human Services  of Mineral and Esmeralda Counties, Douglas County Social Services, Frontier Community Action Agency of Elko, Lander, Humboldt, and Pershing Counties, Lander County Social Services, Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League, Lincoln County Human Services, Lyon County Human Services, Nye County Social Services, and White Pine Social Services.
 
“As Nevada’s unemployment rate continues to rise, it is important that these funds get to those who need them most,” Reid said. “Whether used for job training, child care, or food for those most in need, this money will go a long way toward helping Nevadans get back on their feet.”

Reid Report

I spent most of the last two weeks in our state, talking with Nevadans about the challenges they face, and about what I am doing here in Washington to help. While I was home in Nevada, we received word that our state’s unemployment rate has risen to 10.4 percent. Combine this with our foreclosure problem and declining tourism and you get a pretty clear picture of the challenges confronting our state.

I am doing everything I can to help create jobs in our state, keep people in their homes and improve the economy.  The $1.5 billion I helped bring to Nevada will help create thousands of jobs in Nevada in a variety of fields.  The omnibus appropriations bill brought another $100 million to our state to fund important projects and create even more jobs over the coming months.  We have also been making important investments in renewable energy so Nevada can become the leader in the clean energy revolution. These energy projects create jobs right here in our state, jobs that come from our plentiful natural resources like wind, sunshine, and geothermal energy. These resources won’t run out, and these jobs won’t leave Nevada.

On Wednesday, I hosted a conference call from my home in Searchlight. I spoke with more than 20,000 Nevadans, sharing with them what is happening in Washington, DC and taking questions on a variety of issues.

On Tuesday, I hosted a Town Hall meeting in Las Vegas, after I had the honor of commissioning Nevada’s first wind turbine. We discussed our state’s clean energy future, the jobs it will create and the diversity it will bring to our state’s economy so we’re not relying too heavily on one industry.

Later on Tuesday, I hosted a Children’s Summit in Las Vegas with hundreds of non-profit organization leaders from around our state. We talked about ways to improve the lives of Nevada’s children by improving education and access to health care.

On Wednesday afternoon, I toured renewable energy and agriculture projects at the greenhouses at the University of Nevada, Reno.  One biomass project focused on converting algae to biofuels, a solar retrofit project being done with NV Energy, and an alternative crop project where lettuce is grown using hydroponic methods.

Later on Wednesday, I had the honor of presenting Sparks resident Robert McBride with his long-overdue Purple Heart.

On Thursday, I hosted a workshop in Las Vegas to help Nevadans get their fair share of the Economic Recovery funds. More than 1,400 small business owners, workers, health care providers, energy entrepreneurs, construction workers and others attended this meeting along with 40 representatives from federal agencies and all of my senior policy staff.  This plan will create or save 34,000 jobs in Nevada, and I want to make sure that everyone in our state knows how to take advantage of this opportunity.

As you may know, today is Earth Day. While millions of people will celebrate our efforts to keep our planet clean, it is also an opportunity to focus on creating good-paying jobs in Nevada by investing in clean renewable energy.

Thank you for reading this update. I am working hard every day to use what power I have in Washington to help Nevada, to strengthen our state’s economy, and hopefully to make life a little better for everyone in the Silver State.