Harry hates coal and NV Energy

One gets the distinct impression that as a poor, rag-garbed child growing up in Searchlight, Harry Reid got a few lumps of coal in his Christmas stocking.

He fought and managed to kill a pair of coal-fired power plants near Ely, and now he is demanding that NV Energy shut down immediately the coal-fired Reid Gardner power plant 50 miles north of Las Vegas.

Reid Gardner power plant near Moapa

“A famous maxim says: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” Reid read from his teleprompter Tuesday at his all-day paean to green energy cronies and campaign contributors. “For consumers that step might be deciding to buy energy efficient light bulbs, drive a next-generation vehicle, turn off the lights when you leave the room. In Nevada, I’m sorry, for Nevada (actually NV) Energy the first step should be deciding to turn out the lights on Reid Gardner and turn them out forever.”

Prior to that for three minutes he raged on and on about how NV Energy imports millions of dollars worth of coal to run the plant and how it rains poison on the 300 Paiutes living three football fields away, “literally killing” them. He talked about the tons of carbon dioxide the plant produces. When he said the words coal or NV Energy, he spat them out as though they left a foul taste in his mouth.

An NV Energy spokesman noted that the plant captures 99.9 percent of particulates. The company calls it one of the cleanest in the nation.

But neither she nor Reid mentioned that the plant produces 557 megawatts of power at a price that is one-quarter of the price for Reid’s beloved solar, wind and geothermal power sources.

Twice in recent weeks, Reid has angrily accused NV Energy of not purchasing enough expensive renewable energy. Now he has tripled down.

Here is the video of Sen. Reid at his green energy conference. The rant about Reid Gardner begins at about 9:00 and the angry finale comes at 12:00 or so: