City Climate.NET
This page looks at Las Vegas's elected officials, educators, students, and orgs working on climate.
Contents
1 Elected Officials
2 Educators & Students
3 Organizations
4 Superstars
1 Las Vegas's elected officials represent their constituents well on Climate & Energy policy
Senator Katherine Cortez-Masto understands climate politics in the Senate
Senator Cortez-Masto ...
Senator Jackie Rosen wanted to trump Trump on the Paris Climate Agreement.
Senator Jackie Rosen co-sponsored the proposed International Climate Accountability Act which would have reversed former President Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the UN’s Paris Climate Agreement. The 2019 bill stalled in a Senate committee, but Rosen has supported all other climate and clean energy legislation. Rosen is a member of the bipartisan Senate Climate Caucus.
@SenJackyRosen and @RosenforNevada on twitter
congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1743
Congresswoman Dina Titus always stands up for Las Vegas on climate and energy in the US Congress
Dina Titus had supported 2021’s proposed Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which included ambitious clean energy investments, cut emissions and addressed issues of environmental justice. BBBA didn’t succeed for political reasons, but Titus pushed Congress to include BBBA’s clean energy provisions in the ultimately successful 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. In the 2020 election, the Natural Resources Defense Council endorsed Titus as a “Climate Champion.”
nevadaconservationleague.org/congresswoman-titus-joins-nevada-elected-officials-and-clean-energy-advocates-say-its-time-to-address-extreme-weather-and-invest-in-clean-energy-to-protect-las-vegas-economy/
@repdinatitus and @dinatitus on twitter
Congresswoman Susie Lee represents Las Vegas on climate and energy in the US Congress
US Rep Susie Lee introduced the 2021 Electric Power Infrastructure Improvement Act, and a water recycling bill. ⏣ This article is a stub for you to develop.
@SusieLeeNV on twitter
U.S. Rep Steven Horsford (NV-4) alway supports climate and clean energy bills
Steven Horsford tackles the climate with his 100% voting record on the environment (per League of Conservation Voters) and his introduction of electric grid legislation. In the 2019-20 Congress, he helped pass the “Clean Energy Jobs Act” which would have started a nationwide program for energy-related job training. Horsford, along with fellow Rep. Susie Lee, introduced the 2021 Electric Power Infrastructure Improvement Act. The Act would create a federal transmission investment tax credit (ITC) to help modernize the electric grid for clean energy transmission.
horsford.house.gov/about/about-steven
horsford.house.gov/media/press-releases/horsford-heinrich-lee-introduce-bicameral-bill-to-build-a-more-resilient-reliable-21st-century-electric-grid
@RepHorsford on Twitter
Heidi Kasama speaks for Summerlin (Las Vegas) on saying “No” to climate and energy in the Nevada Assembly
Heidi Kasama decided to vote against Nevada’s landmark clean energy legislation, SB488. Kasama was concerned that SB488’s clean energy tax credits, hundreds of new charging stations, and a modernized electric grid would hurt Nevada’s economy. The Nevada Assembly and Senate approved the $641 million energy package and Governor Steve Sisolak signed it into law in June 2021.
nevadaconservationleague.org/nevada-conservation-league-applauds-passage-of-major-clean-energy-bill-in-nevada/
@heidikasamanv on twitter
2 Las Vegas educators and students working on Climate
UNLV physics professor George Rhee is helping Nevada (and the world) get ahead of climate change
with his online calculator for projecting Nevada’s fossil fuel demand out to 2050. Rhee’s algorithms use a range of variables (like how much clean energy will be brought online, what kind, and when) to reveal an interesting set of climate/societal outcomes.
unlv.edu/news/release/quick-take-numbers-tell-story-climate-change photo by R. Marsh Starks/UNLV Creative Services
3 The Climate Organizations of Las Vegas
Las Vegas’s climate and energy communities can help you get active in the niche you’re good at. Right now, Las Vegas is covered by a diversity of climate-focused orgs that address just about every aspect of the local climate situation. See if one of these groups speaks to your desire to do something about the changing climate.
Citizens Climate Lobby Las Vegas communicates with Las Vegas-based elected federal officials.
Citizens Climate Lobby Las Vegas (CCL Vegas) communicates with Las Vegas-based elected federal officials about one essential federal climate policy: Placing an escalating fee on carbon fuels at the industrial level, and returning the proceeds to every American as a dividend. We have friendly meetings with Las Vegas’s D.C. politicos, and we educate the community at public events and in the local media. Here’s a recent editorial in the Las Vegas Sun by our own Rita Ransom.
Ransom. @ccl_lasvegas on Twitter
image: twitter: @ccl_lasvegas
Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association lets local folks test drive electric vehicles.
Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association held test drive events at Lorenzi Park in April 2022 and at Springs Reserve in June 2022. Local residents learn about charging up an electric vehicle, and about incentives for purchasing one.
lasvegaseva.org
Nevada Conservation League is has a paid staff of pros
Nevada Conservation League is the professional
Sierra Club Las Vegas does a lot of impactful things.
Sierra Club Las Vegas lobbies Nevada state legislators on environmental issues including climate and energy. It's political subgroup investigates the electability of candidates, based on their environmental creds, for U.S., Nevada, Clark County, and city elections.
instagram.com/climatevegas/ and climaterealitylasvegas.com/
image: climaterealitylasvegas.com/
4 These local superheroes have shown strong leadership on energy & climate in Southern Nevada
After performing minor-miracles with Southern Nevada’s water supply, Pat Mulroy is now guru of climate adaptation policy at UNLV.
Pat Mulroy secured the water supply Las Vegas has right now with the billion dollar “third drinking straw” that sips the bottom waters of Lake Mead. Mulroy was a master of resource negotiations from 1989 to 2014 when she simultaneously headed the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Water District. Now, in the US Southwest’s third decade of drought, Mulroy is certain that Las Vegas needs to switch from dwindling river water to desalinated ocean water.
knpr.org/knpr/2022-05/former-southern-nevada-water-authority-chief-very-worried-about-lake-mead-level
law.unlv.edu/faculty/pat-mulroy
What’s key to excellent corporate governance in the 2020s? Having a energy expert on your board of directors.
Rose McKinney-James has a long career in sustainability that includes heading a solar technology company, and serving on the Nevada Public Utilities Commission. Her role on MGM Resorts’ board of directors is to oversee one of the most successful private Climate Action Plans in Las Vegas.
ceres.org/about-us/ceres-presidents-council/rose-mckinney-james
Chris Brooks from Las Vegas was the state’s most accomplished clean energy leader in the Nevada Senate
Chris Brooks authored and pushed legislation allowing large businesses to free themselves from NV Energy and their ever-rising rates. Brooks’ comprehensive 2021 legislation on clean energy (SB448) was a giant leap for the state’s great energy transition. SB448 gives Nevada a) an electricity grid optimized for clean energy, b) hundreds of new EV charge stations, and c) an 80% reduction in NV Energy's carbon emissions by 2030, and more.
A self-described “energy nerd,” Brooks is a certified photovoltaic installer, and has been a solar and utility executive since the early 2000s. Great credential for your Congressperson to have, if you’re having anxiety over climate change.
thenevadaindependent.com/article/dem-chris-brooks-resigning-from-state-senate-moving-to-private-sector
justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/169534/chris-brooks
@LVchrisbrooks on twitter