By Robert L. Candiotti

Next week, on September 7, 2010, the National Clean Energy Summit 3.0: Investing in American Jobs will be held at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid is one of the organizers of the high-level gathering, and he also was a key designer of the previous two powerful annual energy gatherings, which were also held at UNLV.

With regard to advocacy for renewable energy development, Reid has stayed at the forefront for Nevada.

When it comes to getting away from petroleum, Reid can most definitely talk the talk.

At the 2008 Democratic Convention - speaking in support of then candidate for President Barack Obama - Reid uttered various slimy definitions of foreign oil. On national T.V., speaking before many millions of people, Reid stated that oil-funded crises have affected the U.S. for the previous one hundred years. 

He said, "It is 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."

Before that speech in 2008, and since that speech until now, Reid has been personally involved in an energetic trend toward clean energy.

Currently, Nevada is one the nation's leading future energy states (ranking fifth in a study by Center for American Progress and Energy Resource Management), and Reid legitimately can take a portion of the credit for Nevada's clean energy advancements.

However, polls are showing the race between Reid and Republican Sharron Angle is very tight, actually a dead heat. 

There are certainly voters who have annoyances, disappointments and confusions about what Reid stands for, and who he stands with. He certainly is a target of voter gripes. However, his strength with clean energy development has been continuous, creative and vital. In the areas of green energy, Reid's firm approach appeals to many who are concerned about, and confused about, the future. 

Angle surely has strengths, and her views are understandably attractive to a large number of voters in Nevada who have libertarian natures. Nevadans are quite comfortable with notions of individual responsibilities, Second Amendment rights and minimal government controls to primarily protect people and their property. 

If you do not understand the statewide resonance of those topics, then you do not understand Nevada. With libertarian issues, a high percentage of Nevadans are passionate. This is why Angle became the 2010 Republican candidate for Senator.

But, it can be argued that Angle does not sing an elaborate melody. She has got DO and RE down pretty well, but she seems to have difficulty moving up the entire scale. It can be argued Reid's song - though some may suggest he sings it from rote - has a more mature melody, and a stronger theme. The theme of his energy tune is "future sustainability."

Long-term residents of the state are understandably wondering, where is Nevada society and culture going to be in 10 to 20 years?

Everybody knows, the Reid/Angle election remains a toss up. But there appears to be no way she can compete with him in the area of potentially improved economy and sustainability through energy efficiency policies.

To a large degree, next week's National Clean Energy Summit will put the spotlight on Reid. And clean energy news could help to favorably keep the spotlight on him all the way until November 2.

Senator Reid competently and confidently singing the "Green Energy" song may keep him from singin' the blues after the 2010 election.

Of course, there is still time for Sharron Angle to start reaching higher notes in the campaign octave.

  

By Robert L. Candiotti

Many supporters of an eventual Maglev (magnetic levitation) train between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Anaheim, California, just will not give up. I am one of those supporters.

Another strong supporter is Neil Cummings.

Neil Cummings, American Magline Group President, has said that his company has accumulated the $10 million necessary to pay for environmental studies and approvals, as well as engineering costs, for an initial Las Vegas to Primm (40 miles south of Las Vegas) Maglev segment.

It is said that the introductory segment of the Maglev would move the levitated train from Las Vegas to Primm in 12 to 18 minutes. 

When eventually completed, the Maglev would reach Anaheim, at the California coast, in 96 minutes.

However, for the short-term, the attraction of a Maglev to the Nevada-California border town of Primm - with its three funky casinos and the Fashion Outlets shopping mall - engages my imagination.

I live in Las Vegas, and I also like Primm. But getting out to Primm in a car or on a bus can be stodgy and unpredictable - due to traffic fluctuations. The Maglev would shoot you out there consistently in about one third of the time. That's cool.

In a March 19, 2010, article in the Las Vegas Sun, "Harry Reid: 'No one is stopping' maglev train proposal," written by Richard N. Velotta, Nevada U.S. Senator Reid is reported saying "he isn't standing in the way" of the Maglev, and, in Reid's words, "I have no ill will toward the people behind the Maglev project." He adds, Nevadans, "like me, just want to see something get done."

Yet, Reid states Maglev "has failed to come up with the 20 percent match needed for federal funds" that would enable the Maglev project to move forward. 

But, apparently, this would be the $10 million that American Magline Group has said it already has accumulated.

The Sun article says Reid's words "infuriated" Cummings "who disputed several of the claims made by Reid."

Cummings points out that American Magline Group has been working with the Federal Railroad Administration and Nevada Department of Transportation to enable the Maglev project to proceed.

The Sun article by Velotta points out that American Magline Group, with specific examples, expresses a pretty solid "First Forty Miles" strategy for the Maglev. 

Like so many things being imagined in IvanpahValley.com for Ivanpah Valley, a Maglev stop in Primm would be an important change to ensure Southern Nevada is well-positioned for the 21st Century.

At this very moment, I am working at my desk at home in Las Vegas. If there was a Maglev to Primm, I'd jump on it right now to get rapidly to Primm for a change of pace, a drink, and to enjoy the tiny town's unique excitement of being right at the Nevada-California I-15 border.
 

By Robert L. Candiotti

In a news release put out by International Maglev Board on August 2, 2010, headlined "Scientists call for Magnetic Levitation in Brazil," it states that in Brazil there will soon be a magnetic levitation (Maglev) train construction competition.

The Brazilian Maglev project will connect Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo and Campinas with a 310-mile magnetic levitation train route.

In the Internet news release by the non-profit, public interest, organization, it is reported there is expected to be German, Japanese, French and Chinese companies competing for the Maglev construction contract decisions.

Certainly, the results of Brazil's magnetic levitation awards will be relevant to other possible worldwide Maglev projects, including - where I live - in the Western United States.

It can be reassuring that companies from four different countries will be competing for a huge Maglev construction job in Brazil.

One thinks all four of the companies will do elevated and elaborate presentations. The competition should be both real and refined.

If Nevada-California Maglev construction does ever get to a moment of actual contract decision, as apparently will be done in Brazil, actual construction competition will be amenable to Nevada's libertarian political personality.

By Robert L. Candiotti

After I had been working a year on IvanpahValley.com, which, to me, does straightforward news, I got an idea, and a yearning, to do essays, too.

On August 8, 2008, I launched GreenAirport.net. For the new site, I started out - naturally - writing about Ivanpah Valley Airport, but I quickly began writing about whatever fancied me, as long as I could see at least a thin connection to future transportation and sustainability in Southern Nevada.

IvanpahValley.com is pretty much built around the news story. Dictionary.com defines news story as (noun) "a news report of any length, usually presented in a straightforward style and without editorial comment."

GreenAirport.net, posted initially two years ago today, definitely has more of an essay orientation. Dictionary.com defines essay as (noun) "a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative."

Today, I think GreenAirport.net has several readable pages.

Quite interesting to me is the page that is furthest removed from transportation (at least traditional transportation) - and also is one of my favorite and most gratifying publishings on the website - is, currently, the most heavily read page viewed by Internet visitors to GreenAirport.net:

"50 Years In Exile" at www.greenairport.net/id12.html

My writing for GreenAirport.net will continue. Within the next few days, I plan to publish a new page focusing on libertarianism and Nevada. The working page title is "3 Coins Of Freedom."
 

By Robert L. Candiotti

Residing in a Libertarian Land like Nevada, and more and more personally embracing the concepts of libertarianism, it is certainly an attention grabber that the Chinese government wants to suppress a language - Cantonese - that many millions of its citizens speak.

To me, this is another indicator that Nevada - though the state's commitment may regrettably be diminishing, at least it has a long history of libertarianism - should be cautious about establishing business relationships with China.

Related, see "Nevada-Communist China Surrealism" at www.greenairport.net/id20.html

One of the most basic tenets of libertarianism is free speech.

Over the past few days, printed in many different publications, it has been reported there appears to be efforts by China's officials to ban Cantonese - spoken by approximately 100 million Chinese in the province of Guangdong, as well as in Hong Kong, Macau and in Chinese communities around the world - and to diminish Cantonese culture.

Says Reuters.com, dated August 2, 2010, people in that region are "fiercely proud of their unique linguistic culture and identity." There have been many reports that hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of Chinese have been publicly protesting China's recent attempts to begin limiting citizens' long-held freedom of expression through southern China's mother tongue, Cantonese.

Reuters.com says southern Chinese television stations have been broadcasting in Cantonese since the 1980s, but now, states google.com, on August 3, 2010, Communist Chinese authorities are saying a unified language (namely Mandarin) would "forge a good language environment."

Libertarianism is definitely about free speech. Yet, importantly, it is not based anywhere specifically on the political map.

Writes David Boaz, in the book Libertarianism A Primer, "libertarianism is neither left nor right. Libertarians believe in individual freedom and limited government consistently."

Its anti-Cantonese position is one more bit of evidence that China can never really understand Nevada's core aspects of libertarianism.

Again, I do not think business partnerships with China can be beneficial or necessary for Nevada.