Get serious about renewable energy

Sierra Pacific Resources apparently doesn't have this whole renewable-energy concept down cold yet.

The company, which supplies nearly all the power in Nevada through Sierra Pacific Power in the north and Nevada Power in the south, recently filed its annual report on how well it's doing to comply with a 2001 state law.

The response? Not well.

The excuse? It's somebody else's fault.

The company's explanation - and request to be exempted from fines for failing to meet mandated renewable energy levels - has something of a "my dog ate my homework" ring to it.

Although the company signed several contracts with firms that were supposed to come through with supplies of wind and geothermal energy for Sierra Pacific, the company isn't going to make the requirement of 5 percent of such energy sold to consumers. The other companies have fallen apart, their projects have been postponed, or the funding has fallen through, according to Sierra Pacific.

That's unfortunate. Nevada, despite vast natural resources for wind, solar and geothermal energy, lags far behind the rest of the country in its development. State officials have tried incentives with little success, so in 2001, they added the law which is designed to force Sierra Pacific to step up to the plate.

Part of the idea is to wean Nevada off its near-total reliance on traditional energy markets - the ones that have pushed consumer prices to all-time highs and which led to Enron-style ripoffs.

The other main impetus is to develop an alternative-energy industry in Nevada to take advantage of the wind, sun and hot springs.

The logic of the law was this: Either invest in alternative energy, or pay a fine. If state regulators simply waive the fine for Sierra Pacific, then the law is nothing more than hot air blowing across the desert.