Transcripts For KRNV Nevada Newsmakers 20160127

Pro group m nevada. Closed captioning of nevada newsmakers is brought to you by the nevada trucking association, trucking moves america forward. This is nevada newsmakers with host sam shad a no holdsbarred political forum. Now from the nevada newsmakers sam shad. And back on nevada newsmakers, we have a great guest as always, sean whaley is here, political reporter for the Las Vegas Review journal. You were one of the people when the whole ownership change came up with the paper that really, along with others of the paper, who i admire greatly, put your neck on the line in terms of telling the story and trying to get the word out about who actually owned the paper. Have things calmed down now that glenn cook has been appointed the interim editor . They have calmed down quite a bit sam and im happy to say that, because when i sort of teed off on twitter about the ownership issue, we didnt know who the owner was, and that was my big concern. That has since obviously been cleared up, thanks in large part to the reporting of staff at the newspaper. Disclosing that Sheldon Adelson became owner of the newspaper. Since then with glenn cook coming on board as editor, i think most everybody has respect for glenn and they consider that hes walking that line between ownership and reporters who have a tendency to want to cover do. So i think its improved dramatically in the last month compared to what i was thinking 30 days ago. I think for mr. Adelson and his family who now own the paper, if they ever wanted to know what a great paper they had bought, the reporters that all you did, in the face of potentially losing your jobs, was fantastic and was recognized across the nation. So my congratulations to you and everybody else at the paper who did such a great job. Thank you. Now to issues. You have spent the last couple of days covering the puc and whats going on with nvenergy the latest and ill interrupt you as we go along with more questions. Ill tell you its been crazy the last few days because the people who bought systems prior to the new rate taking effect january 1st were. Rooftop solar. Rooftop solar folks was very concerned that the new rates financial viability of their systems. So the puc agreed to take another look at that yesterday. Theyll review the grandfathering issue, but the real surprise announcement came just as the puc voted to do that, the Public Utilities commission and the energy announced that they were going to propose to grandfather in the existing rooftop solar customers so that up to 20 years they will not see a change in the financial arrangement that they entered into when they bought their systems. And thats huge, because for an awful lot of people, especially people who are not rich, they had bought these systems under the understanding that, yes, they would get rebates from the state, from the federal government on their taxes, and from nvenergy. But that they would actually make money towards being able to pay for these systems over that period of time. And i would guess that 20 years is probably about the lifetime or pretty close to it those rooftop systems. I know theres a lot of people breathing a sigh of relief. Also great Public Relations on the part of nvenergy. I think they saw the writing on the wall there that these people maybe that was disclosed that the rates could change. But people, when theyre signing a contract, they dont always remember all those little details. And so they were assuming going forward, as were many state officials, the bureau of Consumer Protection didnt even argue the grandfathering issue, expecting the puc to exempt those people from the new rate. So there was kind of shock when that decision came out december 22nd to include them, not that it was an unusual decision to include everybody in a rate class for obvious purposes of fairness and so on, but still it was a big surprise and that nvenergy announcement will probably go a long way to making a lot of people sleep a little better. Seems like the held of nvenergy has come out done things like this in a very smart Public Relations way in terms of with the Hotel Casinos in las vegas, that want to leave nvenergy. They said we want to do whats best for the customer, were prepared to work with the nvenergy is doing a good job on the Public Relations end of things. You know, the one person i havent heard from and maybe you have is senator reid in all of this. He didnt seem to be in the forefront of this fight. And hes been the biggest proponent in the country of solarpowered energy. He has offered comments throughout the process. I know back in the summer, when this was being discussed, he made some comments about supporting rooftop solar and questioning the intent of nvenergy. Although he said Warren Buffett is a friend, i respect him, i like him, but i think hes wrong on this one. He did on newsmakers, when we taped back in dc in december he said that nevada v energy was operating on a hundred year old system that goes back to westinghouse they need to get into the modern era. I was surprised in the middle of all this he wasnt there. But dina titus was she jumped. She did with a statement. The with senator reid who knows conversations with Warren Buffett and maybe paul coddle at nvenergy i dont know but knowing senator reid at least a a little bit i wouldnt be surprised if he wasnt involved in some way in some way behind the scenes. Lets talk about jobs. There have already been hundreds and hundreds of jobs lost in the solar roof industry. These were not bluffs. They basically shut down the Companies Operating in nevada. What are your thoughts about that . Is there a chance for that business to come back in some form, do you think . I think there is. It depends on what happens with the petition that was filed by some solar groups yesterday. They filed a referendum petition to take to the voters in november saying we would like to restore net metering to the condition it was in before the legislature acted, which basically resulted in the new rates that we have now that they say are just not viable for their business. So rural not rural small Nevada Companies that have shut down and laid off people. Big companies that are nationwide that sold systems and state. Several hundred jobs, its hard to ascertain precisely how many solar city indicated 550 jobs that they lost in nevada. If the voters and apparently this is a popular issue with voters, well see what happens, but if they can get it on the ballot and voters approve it, i think the Solar Industry could come back to nevada. Im not sure it will under the current conditions. And its interesting, because the publicity over, what, well over a decade now, of nevada being the ground central for all of Renewable Energy and then for this suddenly to happen and this industry to blow up, seems like a real shock. But on the other hand, to speak on behalf of the Power Company, Power Companies across the nation have looked at this and gone hey, were paying for the infrastructure, were paying for the backup power to all this solar, these solar rooftops are not operating independently for the most part of the Power Company who pays for all this infrastructure and is it fair to put it on to all the other ratepayers. And thats a good question. And theres still debate over whether or not theres a subsidy. The puc said theres a subsidy of 60 million a year. And just yesterday the puc approved some larger Solar Projects, multiple megawatts, that are going to generate electricity at four cents a kilowatt hour. Theyre paying under the old net metering rate they were paying customers as much as 11 cents per kilowatt hour. So you can see theres a differential there. That would be the wholesale versus the retail rate . Those new big Solar Projects will provide electricity to switch and apple and nevada for four cents a kilowatt, and the rooftop solar systems, those folks are being reimbursed at over 11 cents or they were up until the new rate took effect. Down. Rooftop solar may not be as competitive as other types of solar. So i think that factored into the equation. Closed captioning of nevada newsmakers is brought to you by the nevada trucking association. Trucking moves america forward. And now back to nevada newsmakers with sam shad. Back on nevada newsmakers we continue our conversation with sean whaley, the political reporter for the Las Vegas Review journal and the nevada power energy reporter. There were calls for the governor to fire all the members of the puc. Your thoughts on that. I dont think thats very likely, do you. I dont. I think the governor has appointed three people who have done a good job. I know theyve been getting a lot of criticism. Theres a lot of suggestions that theyre not representing the public in the public interests, and i sat through all these hearings and ive seen all the testimony. Evidence to support that. I think theyre getting a lot of grief for trying to do the right thing, whether they ultimately made the right decision and whether theyll reconsider that, i dont know. But i think the governor has tried to stay out of it because he appointed three people. Its their job to do this and rates. And it isnt his position really to get involved. It really wouldnt be appropriate politically for him to do that. But the solar groups certainly dont care for the members of the commission. They think theyre in the pockets, so to speak, of nvenergy and they dont think theyre doing their industry any favors. Lets change topics here. Actually, one more thing on this. You mentioned it briefly earlier. The new Renewable Energy projects coming on line, theres three of them, correct . There are three they approved yesterday. Actually, i believe theres two Solar Projects that will serve apple and switch. And they will serve them in northern nevada and southern nevada, because the new north and south its now going to be connected even further south into the grid around the west. The whole energy area is changing in a good way that energy can flow around the western part of the united states. It can be sold and bought at good rates. So its really kind of a fascinating situation. And so those new plants will come on line in southern nevada, but theyll serve apple and switch up here in northern nevada. Question for you, and you may or may not have the answer, because its kind of technical. But, for example, when we get gasoline sent over from the bay area into the reno area, it all comes in two pipelines. One comes to reno and one goes to fallon for jet fuel. So there is no differentiating between the oil. When power comes down a power line, how do you tell if its Renewable Energy or not or is it just a big pool and youre paying toward having that Renewable Energy put into the grid. Im not really certain about that myself. Especially switch said we want to be 100 renewable. Weve entered into this agreement with nvenergy to do that. The power comes across the grid. I guess theyre looking at where their consumption is and how much green energy is being produced that they can account for. And im not sure how they exactly figure that out. I think this is a new story for sean whaley. Lets change topics. Vice president s go to funerals. Thats their main job. And i see that Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison is off to open a new nevada Tourism Office in india. Yeah, isnt that interesting. Nevada is certainly not sitting around waiting for Foreign Countries and opportunities to come to them. Were going out and getting them. Sandoval, governor sandoval has traveled to many places and secured different agreements in europe and canada and israel. He has really traveled extensively. I guess it was the lieutenant india, a lot of people there, an economy thats growing. So who knows what opportunities are there. Roz venkada was on the show after china it was the market that nevada really needed to go after because with well over a billion people and a lot of people who can afford to travel and come to places in nevada, and i think one of the stories from the rj talked about how theres a huge indian population in california and they are ripe for being able to come to nevada. Yeah, i think its potentially a great opportunity. Clearly las vegas has name recognition around the world. People know it. People want to see it. They want to see what that is all about, all that excitement, all that interesting entertainment and food and so on down there. I think its a good move. Im not overly familiar with the culture of india and what sort of things people would be interested in seeing or doing or buying, but what an opportunity. Yes indeed. The program. Thank you. Great reporting on this puc and the energy story. Well be right back on nevada newsmakers right after this timeout. Nevada newsmakers is brought to you in part by the pro group this is nevada newsmakers. Back on nevada newsmakers we have a great power pundit panel as always, Jesse Gutierrez is here former executive director for nevada hispanic services. James smack, former Nevada Republican National Committeeman and dorie guy with emerge nevada. Pleasure to have you all here. As were taping this this morning, we know that donald trump has said that hes not going to go into the Republican Debate on fox because of his feud with megyn kelly. And it seems to me that this is almost like the ross perot moment when ross perot who was doing so well suddenly went crazy, was talking about the fbi wedding and left the race. Does this make any sense that if, that every other candidate, every other thirdparty, every middle of the road Republican Organization is going to fling insults if he cant stand up to meg meg how does he stand up to Vladimir Putin and others. The way i see it, its childish. On whose part . On trumps side. Its childish to play that kind of a game. Oh, im going to take my ball and run with it, i dont want to play with you anymore. To me, i love some of the stuff he says and how he says it. Its time somebody took some courage to say what needs to be said. But at the same time theres got to be some tact. Theres got to be some diplomacy. And of course you dont offend people along the way if you can do it without offending, then and i think its just a childish situation in trumps site. The thing thats fascinating majority of his supporters one would have to think were fox news watchers. Fox news watchers love megyn kelly. Number two on the network. Shes blowing it off saying this is nothing personal im just doing my job. Yeah, i actually watch megyn kellys show last night shes handling it professionally. I think donald trump is, should have participated in the debate. But ive long ago given up on secondguessing anything that donald trump does, because it seems like every time i say this is the time that donald trump is going to implode on himselves he rye i sees five more points in the polls and keeps marching on. Im sure donald trump has a reason for what hes doing. I dont think its just a childish temper tantrum i think he has a plan and i think hell execute the plan. Fickle caucus voters in iowa its probably handing the iowa caucus to ted cruz at this point in time but donald trump will most likely win New Hampshire and well move on from there. Dorrie . I think its extremely childish, heres a man who supposedly runs many corporations able to hire and fire people hes afraid of a little blond lady. It just doesnt make sense to me. I dont think hes afraid of her. I think its a matter of he wants to do his own thing, wants to make his own statement. And hes going to do it. Hes donald trump. Hes selffunding his campaign. Kind of. Actually a lot of donations. There are but he hasnt necessarily been soliciting them. I mean, yes, he has a donation button on his page people are making donations to his campaign but for the most part hes selffunding. So he can pretty well do what he wants. I think whatever he decides to do on debate night is going to be widely covered. Might even be covered more than the debate is if its promoted the right way. So its going to be really over the next couple of days. Jesse . I dont know. I like megyn kelly. I always have. Not only because shes shes a smart, sharp, professional lady. When you take on Something Like that because of something that was said before and whatever, like i said, i still think that he could have handled it in a much better way and not come off like my First Impression was childish. You know, its been interesting. Over the last week, the New York Times has run several articles about the Republican Base in dc that has been looking for more moderate candidate to be able to run and beat hillary clinton. And theyve been looking at all kinds of options. Does this not help at this point, because every single candidate, they would be crazy not to attack trump. I mean, i think a lot of people are going to watch the debate on fox just to see how much they all go after trump. Im sure they will. Im sure they will. But i think that the smarter campaigns up on that main stage are going to take the opportunity to promote their vision of the country. Take that opportunity to start really introducing themselves. This is a golden opportunity for even someone like a rand paul to make a move at this point in time and really articulate his position without donald trump taking the air out of the room. So rand paul, or even a john or Chris Christie to start making their cases to the American People without having donald trump up there dominating the questions, dominating a bunch of the time. Seven people is easier to work with than eight. So theres only going to be seven on the main stage. Its really its what the other candidates do with their opportunity i think that are going to make the difference here. I think you know hes a gift to the Democratic Party as far as im concerned, and i think this latest incident is going to watch on the next broadcast the head of the Nevada Manufacturing Association will join us, ray