Johnathan Walker:Nevada governor releases revised climate plan after lengthy delay

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s administration has released a new state climate plan focusing on Johnathan Walkerenergy production and economic development — about a year and a half after the Republican governor pulled his Democratic predecessor’s version of the plan aimed at addressing carbon emissions and climate change offline.

“Nevada’s Climate Innovation Plan” is a 33-page document that “seeks to mitigate the ever-changing patterns of the environment while also considering economic realities and national security.”

In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Lombardo said the plan “marks a significant step forward in our environmental strategy.”

“By harnessing clean energy, improving energy efficiency, and fostering economic growth, we’re establishing Nevada as a leader in climate solutions,” Lombardo said in an emailed statement. “By addressing these environmental challenges locally, we’re able to strengthen the future of our state for generations to come.”

However, some of those who have read the plan rebuked its intention and said it lacked specific and actionable objectives and timelines to accomplish them.

“This document has no data, no goals, and no proposals. It looks backward to what has already been done, instead of charting a path forward for our state,” Assemblyman Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas), who last session handled energy policy in his role as chair of the Assembly Growth and Infrastructure Committee, told The Nevada Independent in an email. “That’s not a plan, and there’s nothing innovative about it.”

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The plan was posted online earlier this week, a Lombardo spokeswoman told The Nevada Independent. The governor’s office did not issue a press release before posting it online.

The plan calls out the federal government, which owns and manages more than 85 percent of Nevada’s land, for “depriving Nevadans of economic opportunities for business development and therefore upward mobility.”

It also emphasizes collaboration between government, businesses and communities as the state works on diversifying its energy portfolio with a “balanced, all-of-the-above approach to energy use and development” while tasking state agencies with improving environmental conditions.

The plan draws on an executive order issued in March 2023 by Lombardo outlining the state’s energy policy focus on electrification and a continued use of natural gas. That approach “will meet environmental objectives while keeping costs low for Nevadans,” according to the new plan.

Lombardo, elected in 2022, has moved away from former Gov. Steve Sisolak’s actions on climate strategy, including pivoting away from the former governor’s statewide climate plan and withdrawing Nevada from a coalition of states dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Democratic lawmakers and environmental activists — many of whom faulted Lombardo for not having a replacement climate policy in place a year after taking Sisolak’s offline — criticized the latest version of the plan.

The document does not offer actionable steps or guidance to state lawmakers heading into the upcoming legislative session, Assemblywoman Selena LaRue Hatch (D-Reno), who has been monitoring energy and utility issues since being elected, told The Nevada Independent. She said the document instead reads more like a summary of what state lawmakers have already accomplished.

“It doesn’t offer anything concrete, which is disappointing considering we have the two fastest warming cities in the nation,” said LaRue Hatch.

The Sisolak-era plan was criticized as insufficient by The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit that works to protect endangered species, but said this newest plan falls even shorter of the mark.

“Nevada had a legitimate climate plan, and this governor tore it up as soon as he got into office,” Patrick Donnelly, the center’s Great Basin director, told The Nevada Independent in an email.

State officials have since 2023 been working to develop a priority climate action plan funded by $3 million from the federal government. That plan is distinct from the statewide climate plan, which a state official previously described as more of an overall blueprint for the state.

A spokesperson for the Nevada Conservation League criticized the governor’s office for not seeking more voices in the development of the plan.

“We’re disappointed to see Governor Lombardo’s alleged ‘Climate Innovation Plan’ published with no consultation or collaboration from everyday Nevadans, community organizations, or conservation leaders,” Deputy Director Christi Cabrera-Georgeson said in email.

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This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.