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Sunday, May 31, 2009
President Obama and Senator Reid Are Now Defined By Pronouncements On Clean Energy
By Robert L. Candiotti
With regard to energy consumption, both President Barack Obama and U.S. Senator Harry Reid from Nevada are committed to
extremely long-term planning for a reinvented energy system in the country.
Both believe continuing to be powered
by oil is going to drive America straight to the poor house.
At a visit to Nellis Air Force Base on May 27, according
to a Scientific American article by Doug Palmer, Obama said, "We know the cost of our oil addiction all too
well. It's the cost measured by the billions of dollars we send to nations with unstable and unfriendly regimes."
At the 2008 National Democratic Convention last August, in his convention speech, Reid stated, "It is a time
for an energy policy that recognizes national security means ending dependence on oil and that the future is about new ideas
and change for the better."
Both Obama and Reid seem to be serious and consistent on the issue of
energy. They both think there has to be a sustainable energy revolution in the U.S., and the transition will take several
decades.
According to Palmer, Obama said at Nellis, "We can remain the world's leading importer of oil, sending
our money and our wealth away, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy."
Obama and Reid
are now partially and enduringly defined - especially in Nevada - by their pronouncements on clean energy.
I repeatedly
think, if it is designed and ultimately built in Southern Nevada, Ivanpah Valley Airport will probably be known
as the "greenest" international airport in the world. If the Environmental Impact Statement concludes in 2010 with
a green light for Ivanpah, it in turn is destined to be a green airport.
Rising up in the era of Obama
and Reid, Ivanpah will be defined by them, as they are becoming defined by an attempt for a 21st Century energy revolution.
6:00 am pdt
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Director Of Aviation Feels Ivanpah Vally Airport Appropriate For Airbus A380 Infrastructure
By Robert L. Candiotti
In an interview in the November/December 2007 issue of Airport Business, by John F. Infanger, Randall H. Walker,
Director of Aviation, Clark County Department of Aviation, says the Airbus A380 makes sense for Southern Nevada's proposed
Ivanpah Valley Airport.
Walker says, since Ivanpah is a long distance from Las Vegas, "we think the natural
fit [for Ivanpah Valley Airport] is the longer-haul aircraft."
The Airbus A380, flying extremely long distance
routes - primarily between Asia and Europe - since late 2007, is a double-deck jet that holds 500-plus passengers. The very
large A380 requires specially designed airport features.
In the Airport Busines interview, Walker is clear
that the A380 cannot use Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport because that "airfield is not really designed to accommodate
an A380 efficiently; it would be very disruptive."
In the talk with Infanger, Walker touches upon the fact
that Ivanpah is undergoing the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) and will not be operational until 2017, at the earliest.
Though Ivanpah Valley Airport is often described as a "supplemental" airport to handle future excess demand
on McCarran, he does note that Ivanpah "at its ultimate build-out could handle about 35 million" air travelers annually.
1:55 pm pdt
Monday, May 25, 2009
Will Las Vegas Be A Pearl In The Worldwide Strand Of Airbus A380 Cities?
By Robert L. Candiotti
As of this date, 17 long-haul aviation companies have placed 200 firm orders with Airbus for its superjumbo A380 aircraft.
The new A380 aircraft entered into commercial service in late 2007, but Singapore Airlines is already flying six of
these double-decker marvels that can seat 500 to 800 passengers.
Emirates and Qantas are also using these airplanes
that can fly 8,000 nautical miles non-stop.
Airports that today receive the A380s include Singapore, Tokyo, London,
Dubai and Sydney. Other major airports - such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver - are preparing themselves to handle
the A380.
Importantly, any airport that services the A380 has to be designed specifically for that ability.
Looking ahead, with more and more A380s being delivered for many years to come, it is clear that prestigious and important
airports that handle the A380s will each be a pearl in a necklace that strands together the A380-compatible airports of the
world.
McCarran International Airport at Las Vegas, Nevada, is simply not a place where the A380 can land. The
A380 needs longer and wider runways than the Boeing 747. A380s also need specially designed ramp facilities. Aside from being
very large, the long-haul jets are thoroughly double-deck airplanes.
For Las Vegas to be a pearl in the necklace
of the A380 worldwide route system, Ivanpah Valley Airport - situated 30 miles south of Las Vegas between Jean and Primm,
Nevada - is going to have to be approved and built.
When the Airbus A380 - the largest commercial jet in history
- made a public relations stop at San Francisco's International Airport in October, 2007, Barry Eccleston, president and chief
executive of Airbus Americas, said, "Welcome to the future of the airline industry."
Today, that statement
does not seem to be built on hyperbole. Since Eccleston's statement, Singapore Airlines has carried more than a million passengers
on the six A380 aircraft in its fleet.
Las Vegas needs connectivity and it needs Ivanpah Valley Airport. The described
plan is for McCarran to become a primarily domestic airport and Ivanpah will become the site for most of the international
and long-haul flights to and from Southern Nevada.
Ivanpah, in the Environmental Impact Statement stage
now, needs to become a reality. This is how a grain of sand in the desert can become a pearl in the necklace of significant
A380 airports that circle the globe.
To read more about Ivanpah Valley Airport and its connection with A380 airline
companies, go to www.ivanpahvalley.com/id26.html.
11:15 am pdt
Saturday, May 16, 2009
International Conference On Energy, Logistics AndThe Environment Will Be Held In Las Vegas
By Robert L. Candiotti
The Second Annual International Conference On Energy, Logistics and the
Environment - organized by the Global Commerce Forum - will be held at the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 23-24,
2009.
With a theme that incorporates the bursting of the oil bubble, the global economic downturn and the resultant
impact on logistics and clean energy initiatives, the meeting is described by Global Commerce Forum as "a platform for
business executives, global scholars, researchers, practitioners, vendors, service providers, legislators and manufacturers
to share their expertise, experiences, best practices, and future activities to facilitate global commerce."
The conference was held last October at the same Las Vegas venue. That 2008 gathering for the International Conference On
Energy, Logistics and the Environment featured numerous experts - who comprised a wide array of perspectives - on fossil
fuel trends, long-haul transportation of chemicals, goods and people, "green" architecture, social responsibility
for sustainability, energy-wise property management, as well as university research and development in sustainable energy
technologies.
The breadth of the 2008 presentations - as well as the atmosphere of the conference that enabled
interaction among all attendees to be comfortable and enriching - made the event a significant one for painting a big
picture of energy and logistics for today and tomorrow.
On the Global Commerce Forum website, the organization
states that socializing is an important aspect of the conference. "A major part of the conference is networking with
such opportunities provided through receptions, breaks, roundtable discussions and luncheons," notes Global Commerce
Forum.
GCF is now taking registrations, and is calling for papers and panelists. For information go to www.globalcommerceforum.org.
12:16 pm pdt
Saturday, May 9, 2009
U.S. Senator Harry Reid From Nevada Will Probably Win His 2010 Re-election By 8 To 10 Points
By Robert L. Candiotti
Repeatedly, I have been thinking that Harry Reid, U.S. Senator from Nevada, will win his 2010 re-election by
8 to 10 points.
Senator Reid, though diminutive and quiet, can become as confrontational as a junk yard dog when
he takes a stand.
I think a good executive realizes only two or three important issues can be effectively
dealt with at any one time. Two huge issues that Reid has dealt with are the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage issue and
the year in, year out, non-trendy importance of the development of alternative energy resources.
It seems
to me Reid is defining himself positively by two big successes with these two topics.
Yucca Mountain seems to be
dead. If not dead, it's barely breathing. A March 19, 2009, article by Lisa Mascaro in the Las Vegas Sun -
titled "In D.C., a sea change on dump plan" - states that President Obama and Senator Reid "are seen by many
as an essentially unstoppable alliance in killing the Yucca Mountain plan."
As far as alternative energy progress
goes in Nevada, Reid seems to be completely supportive and untiring with a view that it is essential for the state's - and
the region's - future viability and success.
From what I have heard, Reid will be helping to stage at
UNLV this coming August a 2009 version of the National Clean Energy Summit which was so exciting and interesting in Las
Vegas last summer.
The 2010 election is still far off, but it is difficult right now to picture anything but a
very muscular win for this normally unimposing Senator from Nevada.
2:21 pm pdt
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For a summary of the history of the need for Ivanpah Valley Airport, click here.
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