FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: A Bermuda Triangle of bad policy

By VERNON ROBISON

It is summer in southern Nevada – not the best time of year to live here! In the modern world, most of us have adapted to the ravages of the desert sun by spending our summers scurrying from one small pocket of air-conditioned space to another. That keeps us cool and comfortable during the long, hot months. That is how we endure.

“Thank goodness, for air conditioning!” we all say at this time of year. “How in the world did the early settlers in these valleys ever survive it?!”

Well, we all may be forced to take a closer look at that last question in the very near future. Because of a perfect storm of different factors, the electricity that runs all of our air conditioners, and other essential items, may not be as constant and reliable as we might think. If things line up just wrong this summer, we could all get a little unexpected taste of rough, pioneer living.

In last month’s meeting of the Overton Power District (OPD5) board of directors, OPD5 General Manager Mendis Cooper reported on some letters he had received from three regional entities involved in producing and delivering electricity to southwestern communities.

The first was from regional utility NV Energy, which handles the transmission of power to OPD5, as well as most of the rest of the state. The letter recalled that the region had already experienced supply shortages over the past two summers. These had come dangerously close to resulting in rolling outages (translation: periods of no AC). Given the high temperatures, reduced hydro-electric supply, continued retirement of energy supply, potential supply chain disruptions and the increased potential of wildfire impacts to transmission lines in the west; we could very well reach a tipping point this summer, the letter stated.

“They are warning us that they can’t always guarantee that the transmission is going to be there for us,” Cooper explained to the board. “And that has been a big problem because environmental regulations have prevented utility firms from building big transmission lines. They are starting to feel the squeeze for that.”

Of course, the district has a plan in place should such outages seem imminent. But it isn’t pretty! First the district would send out messages to customers calling for conservation. Next they would provide “interruptible options” to customers, where the district would offer payments to those agreeing to voluntarily reduce their power use in specific ways. Of course, if all else fails, the district, and its customers, would have to face rolling outages.
Well, that’s not very happy news!

The second letter came from the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), a federal entity that markets and transmits wholesale electricity from hydro-power sources in the west. This letter put power purveyors on notice that “the drought and other environmental constraints could limit WAPA’s ability to support neighboring utilities in an emergency; thus support is not guaranteed.”

Cooper explained that in the past, when power shortages loomed in California, WAPA had requested more water to be released along the hydropower projects. That way additional power could be produced to fill California’s gap.
“In this letter, they are just letting everyone know that they aren’t going to do that anymore,” Cooper said. “The water resources are stretched too thin for that.”
More bad news!

Finally, there was a report from the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), the financing insitution for the OPD5 and other small rural power entities. This was an update on the current spike being seen in natural gas prices. Prices of natural gas in May of 2022 were nearly 3 times the amount seen in May of 2021. And they are expected to rise significantly further in the second half of the year, the report said.

Meanwhile U.S. electricity consumption is on the rise, according to CFC. This is due to the increased electrification of the economy; especially the proliferation of electric vehicles on the roads, the report said.

In a related sidenote, Cooper reported to the board that NV Energy is currently applying to the Public Utilities Commission for a 9.1 percent overall rate increase to its retail customers. “That is being driven by those natural gas price increases,” Cooper said.
A perfect Bermuda Triangle of bad news!

Of course, the current administration in Washington prefers to assign all blame elsewhere for these, and many other, national misfortunes. But it is hard to look at these three issues, that reach all the way down into our small isolated communities, and not see a seriously flawed energy policy at the root of each one.

The trouble begins on the demand side when populous states like California exponentially increase their reliance on renewable sources that simply can’t supply reliable baseload power (despite what the unicorns may promise). A trend, stoked by publicly funded incentives, toward electric vehicles that spike the peak demand even further, certainly doesn’t help matters.

Then, federal restrictions against new oil and gas leases on public lands, as well as on new oil and gas pipelines put the pinch onto the supply side of the equation as well.

Our ongoing policy of retiring perfectly good coal generating plants in this country – facilities that were already equipped with the most advanced clean-emissions technology – certainly plays a part (admittedly a secondary one) in the natural gas supply problem. After all when we toss diversity aside by forcing all of our baseload energy eggs into one basket, we open ourselves up to becoming victims of the cruel market.

Finally, as Cooper points out, the environmentally tainted deck of cards, dealt by federal land management agencies, has long been stacked heavily against the development of new energy transmission infrastructure on public lands. This problem is not due to a lack of land. Rather it is because of a circuitous web of bureaucracy that panders to distant environmental lobbies and makes any development nearly impossible. So it comes as no surprise when transmission companies like NV Energy, just can’t keep up with delivery of power to meet peak demand – especially when that demand is so high!

And so here we are! Our own unsustainable (to borrow a term) energy policy has left the entire western U.S. in a rather precarious state this summer – especially here in southern Nevada. Under the desert sun, a forced power outage – or even a rolling blackout – could be catastrophic for the aged, the infirm and the economically underprivileged. It could also have serious impacts to local business and our micro-economy. And it would be a real bummer for everyone else stuck in the heat.

I suppose, if all goes wrong, we could just hop into our cars and crank up the AC to cool off for a bit. But wait! We haven’t even talked about the price of gasoline yet!