RENEWABLE ENERGY TASK FORCE

Minutes of the Meeting of the Nevada Task Force for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Videoconference – April 25, 2006 This meeting was a videoconference between the following five locations: Ely, Elko, Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City. Below is the list of attendees at each location: Ely Mark Russell, Chairman of the Task Force Tim Carlson, Task Force Member Jeneane Harter, Consultant, HiTech Communications Jerry Angus, Hill AFB, USAF Clyde Rexroad, Hill AFB, USAF Capt. Robert Goza, Hill AFB, USAF Bill Davidson, USAF ret. Luke Papez, LS Power David Sims, SPPC Mary Simmons, SPPC Mark Milburn, LS Power Jim Alworth, City of Ely Michael Kneese, Regulatory Planning Commission Lori Hunt, White Pine School District Trustee Irene L. Chachas, White Pine School District Trustee Karen Rajala, White Pine County EDC Jerry Meyer, White Pine County EDC Caroline McIntosh, White Pine School District Assistant Superintendent Pete Mangum, White Pine School District School Board Matt Leck, Southern Nevada Water Authority Hank Blair, White Pine Public Works Director Bob Timko Ronald Taylor Steve Leith, EDC/Nevada No. Railroad RaLeene Makley Gracyne Backus, White Pine Co. Farm Bureau Dan Callaghan, Ely/White Pine Co. Airport Tim Rubald, NCED Susan Lisigor, Senator Reid’s Office Ken Heinbaugh, White Pine Co. Comm. Elko Assemblyman John Carpenter Brian Plumb, Congressman Jim Gibbons’ Ofc Kim Abeyta, ECEDA Thomas Martin, Elko County Free Press Elaine Barkdull, ECEDA Reno Russ Fields, Task Force Member Jason Geddes, Co-Vice Chair of the Task Force Bob Cooper, Co-Vice Chair of the Task Force Elwood Miller, Task Force Member Dan Schochet, Task Force Member Caroline Lowman Marc De La Torre, Senator Ensign’s Office Kevin Kirkeby, Senator Ensign’s Office Danelle Snodgrass, Administrative Support for the Task Force Carson City Dennis Green Shirley Swafford Christy Morris, Nev. Dept. of Minerals Kristy Wahl, PUCN Las Vegas Dan Geary, Task Force Member Danny Thompson, Task Force Member ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 The minutes from the March 16, 2006 meeting were approved as submitted. Update from State Office of Energy There was no report from the Office of Energy. Chairman’s Report Chairman Russell thanked Ely for the hospitality extended during their visit and the tour of the David E. Norman Elementary School, where they have installed a boiler system which is using waste forestry products from a local thinning project. He commended the White Pine County School District and encouraged Task Force members to go by and visit the school to check this project out. Chairman Russell said the Task force originally projected for the June meeting to go through and make recommendations and comments on the Nevada Energy Status report and the Western Governors Association’s document. He said that would put the Task Force in a better position for the June meeting to provide formal comments for the State Office of Energy, which is one of the Task Force’s obligations under the state charter. Chairman Russell said along those same lines, there is a two day hearing May 18 and 19, at the PUCN (Public Utilities Commission of Nevada) to review the RPS (renewable portfolio standard). He said the PUCN, particularly Commissioner Linvill, has requested that the Task Force participate in Docket Nos. 05-9028 and 05-9029, which deals with the RPS. Chairman Russell said the May Task Force meeting will also be used to follow up on Mr. Farkas’ report that the Task Force received at its March 16, 2006 meeting, and the Task Force will spend some time going over the two documents mentioned previously as well as follow-up on the workshops at PUCN for Docket Nos. 05-9028 and 05-9029. Chairman Russell said Commissioner Linvill is requesting experts in the renewable energy and energy conservation fields to attend and make presentations at the open forum workshop, most particularly on how to get renewable energy and energy conservation projects into the ground. He requested members of the Task Force who have particular areas of expertise and represent particular industries to reach out to some of the experts in those fields to participate in this workshop. Consultant’s Report Jeneane Harter stated that the complete Consultant’s Report was available on the Task Force website and was Attachment #1 to these minutes. Jason Geddes asked Ms. Harter who the AB 236 packets were sent to. Danelle Snodgrass responded that County Commissioners, City Managers, Mayors and all County and City officials were sent an AB 236 packet. Elwood Miller stated that the Biomass Working Group has been working with the State Office of Energy and has scheduled a two day Biomass Workshop for June 27 and 28. He said the agenda is currently being put together and will have some outstanding speakers giving presentations. Mr. Miller said more information regarding the workshop will be sent out soon. 2 Tim Carlson commented that at the last meeting the Task Force had an excellent presentation by Tim Farkas from the Nevada State Bank, regarding the aspects of financing projects in the rural and urban areas and the possibility of the state studying a bond capability that would help fund some of these renewable energy projects. Mr. Carlson recalled during discussions by the Task Force concerning this he had suggested that a subcommittee be created to do some research for the Task Force and make some recommendations for possible legislative changes regarding issue and in particular, how we could get some financing for those projects. Mr. Carlson said it was mentioned during the tour today of the Schools for Fuels program in Ely, what would the project itself do if it also had the ability to not only create steam for heating the facility but also generate electricity? The project manager replied that they had studied this at the beginning but it became financially unavailable. Mr. Carlson said he talked to him about possible grants and some other ideas, but this is the kind of issue the Task Force needs to become a bigger player in the process and figure out how these projects in the smaller communities can get funded through bond financing from the states. Mr. Carlson recommended that the Task Force move forward with that subcommittee to study bond financing, financial issues of renewable energy generation in rural communities as well as urban areas, and try to figure out how the Task Force could put forth possible legislation if necessary and help fund these smaller projects in an appropriate manner. Chairman Russell said he thought this was a good idea but did not want to spend a lot of time debating this issue at today’s meeting because of the full agenda and the time constraints. He asked if Mr. Carlson would be willing to head up this subcommittee and Mr. Carlson replied that he would. Chairman Russell asked other members of the Task Force that were interested in belonging to this subcommittee to contact Mr. Carlson and he will coordinate the meetings. Ely Wind/LS Power Presentation Tim Carlson, Owner of Ely Wind and partners with LS Energy said they have a presentation prepared for this meeting and turned it over to Mark Milburn, a representative from LS Energy. Mark Milburn gave the presentation on behalf of LS Power, along with Luke Papez, also a member of LS Power. He said they are partnered with Ely Wind on a 1,000-1,600 megawatt coal fired facility to be located in White Pine County, about 30 miles north of Ely. Mr. Milburn gave a presentation on the three projects they were either proposing or already working on in White Pine County (Attachment #2). After the presentation Chairman Russell asked if LS Power was sharing or coordinating their plans for the transmission line in any way with the Frontier Project group. Mr. Milburn responded that the Frontier Project Group is familiar with their project and they have been in contact with them. They are aware of the project and aware of how to get in touch with LS Power should they need to. Chairman Russell asked Mr. Milburn if the Frontier group goes forward with their project whether there would be conflicts or would there be the ability to have cooperative lines. Mr. Milburn said he was confident that there would be the ability to have cooperation. He said from his understanding from the recent conference they had in San Diego last week, the schedule for the LS Project is far ahead of the schedule for the Frontier line but they were definitely interested in cooperating. Chairman Russell asked if a transmission project of the LS Power’s nature and scope was expandable enough to tie in to the various ends or would it have to be in parallel to them once it was constructed. 3 Mr. Milburn replied that there would have to be studies at the interconnection points, but in terms of routing the line the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has identified a corridor and LS Power is within a two foot right-of-way within that half-mile corridor so there is a potential for parallel lines there. He said the interconnection points would have to be studied by the associated utilities. Chairman Russell stated that recently California has adopted a standard that not every coal plant can meet. He asked if the design and modern technology equipment that LS was using for the proposed coal plant met the current standards in California, for California to import power from the coal plant through Nevada. Mr. Milburn responded that his understanding was that their proposed coal plant would not meet those new standards. Chairman Russell asked if the primary customer for the proposed LS coal plant was Nevada. Mr. Milburn responded that that was correct. Chairman Russell asked if the wind project was dependent on the LS transmission project – were they hand in glove. Mr. Milburn stated that the transmission project did provide a significant advantage for the wind project but they were also permitting the wind project to interconnect in the existing system without the 500 kv transmission line. He said they were separate independent projects. Dan Schochet asked how much excess capacity the transmission line would have. Mr. Milburn responded that they are undergoing a study with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council to identify the capacity and should have that information soon. He said they would like as much excess capacity as possible for everyone’s benefit as well as their own. Dan Geary asked with regard to the siting of the transmission lines, was there any overlay in terms of its location to the Great Basin National Park or any of the wilderness study areas in that area? Mr. Milburn answered that the route that was permitted and the right-of-way grant that was issued by the BLM currently avoids all of those areas. Mr. Geary asked for a brief explanation of the difference on the transmission towers. He said Mr. Milburn had referenced two different types of structures, one being for more environmentally sensitive areas, and what the value was of those types of structures. Mr. Milburn said the purpose of selecting the H-frame design for certain areas was to minimize perching for raptors, particularly sage grouse and other species. Sierra Pacific Power Company Presentation David Sims stated that he was Director of Project Development for Sierra Pacific Resources, which is the holding company for Sierra Pacific Power and Nevada Power Companies, the two regulated utilities in Nevada. He said Sierra Pacific Resources has proposed their Ely Energy Center, which is a 2,500 megawatt coal generation facility to be located in White Pine County as well as the development of a 250 mile transmission interconnect system that will, for the first time, interconnect their northern and southern systems in Nevada. Mr. Sims said currently the project is under development, in terms of a variety of areas of the project. They were beginning their air quality monitoring in White Pine County at two different locations in the Steptoe Valley by the erection of meteorological towers, which will determine the existing air quality and meteorological conditions as part of their air permitting process. They will also be submitting 4 their applications in June to BLM for a land use application for both the site as well as the transmission line. Mr. Sims said they are anticipating approvals in 2007 and 2008 in their various permit applications, both on the air permitting side as well as the BLM land use and anticipate breaking ground on the project in its first phase in the summer of 2008. Mr. Sims said the first phase consists of 1,500 megawatts of supercritical pulverized coal generation to be constructed in two units, the first unit coming on line in 2011 and the second in 2013. The second phase will consist of advanced integrated gasification, combined cycle units (clean coal) technology. They do not have a specific date for that but will begin construction of those facilities once they have determined that the technology has been demonstrated to be commercially viable. He said this will be an ultimate build-out of roughly 2,500 megawatts in White Pine County. Mr. Sims said they were currently looking at two feasible sites; one in south Steptoe, roughly 10-15 miles north of McGill; the other in north Steptoe, in the range of 50-60 miles north of McGill. He said Sierra Pacific Resources supports the White Pine County local communities as well as Ely in their efforts to develop power generation facilities, as well as a variety of economic development and recreational opportunities that could be potentially affected by the proposed Air Force regulations. He said they understand that now there has been a revised concept that was to be proposed by the Air Force. Mr. Sims said they are very interested in understanding what that proposal is and whether there is potential impact on their facilities as far as stack heights and construction towers as they could certainly be in the same range of elevation that LS Power talked about. He said they were looking forward to working with the community and the Air Force in understanding the new proposal. Mr. Sims said in terms of transmission there was a question about renewable resources. He said when they made their initial application with their transmission planning people they proposed an initial 1,500 megawatt coal generation facility as well as 300 megawatts of renewable, both to be designated as network resources by their transmission planners. He said they are in the process of evaluating the type of transmission line that will be necessary to carry that power to both the Sierra system in the north and Nevada Power in the south. Chairman Russell said he understood multiple power plants for the growing United States and noticed driving here today that he drove by 2,000 megawatts of now controlled Nevada Power Plants. He said the multiple plants are not the issue, he doesn’t understand multiple transmission systems in the same corridor. He said if LS is moving ahead with its project and its transmission line and Sierra’s considering moving ahead with its transmission line and then you have the Frontier Group, sponsored by the Governors of the various states in the western United States, proposing a larger transmission system that might also go down through that corridor. He says you may have conflict or redundancy and we could end up in the situation where none of the transmission gets built – which would be the worse of all worlds. He asked Mr. Sims if he could enlighten him as to the coordination, the conflict, and how they see this playing out. Mr. Sims responded that they applied to their transmission planning group for a certain capacity to carry the power generation from their site to interconnect with both the Sierra Pacific system and the Nevada Power system. He said the original SWIP (Southwest Intertie Project) corridor, as it was mentioned earlier, had planned for the inclusion of multiple lines. The original SWIP proposal was to bring power from Idaho, primarily hydroelectric resources, to allow to interconnect with resources in the south and some of the markets in the southwest. Mr. Sims said at the same time that that line was proposed and when those rights-of-way were granted it was recognized that there was a power 5 generation facility proposed in White Pine County previously by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. He said so the corridor has always assumed there would be multiple power generation lines. When a proposal or presentation is made to their transmission planning people they are obligated to take proposals from all comers under the Open Access Transmission Tariff and they will be the ones who decide the size of the lines that would be appropriate to serve Nevada Power and others. He said there was a precedent in the original environmental impact statement for multiple transmission lines and he thought it could be reasonably worked out between the various parties. Chairman Russell said he understands that a corridor might accept more than one transmission line if they turned or go through the corridor and tie off at different locations, but Harry Allen would be the southern tie off for all of the proposals, and he asked if Harry Allen had the ability to receive multiple transmission lines. Mr. Sims replied that that was going beyond his understanding and thought this would be better answered by their transmission planning department. Chairman Russell asked Mr. Sims if he had identified any particular renewable project or was this 300 megawatts of renewables to be put out to bid. Mr. Sims responded that this was a general allowance they made as the first pass of renewable capacity they anticipated would be potentially coming on line so it was not a hard and fast number. He said they have a group that is actively involved in soliciting proposals from developers for renewable projects. Chairman Russell asked Mr. Sims, in regards to the Egan Wind Project, which is 200 megawatts; could this be one of those projects that they would consider for their transmission capacity. Mr. Sims stated that he thought this was certainly a possibility but there was another group within Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Resources that negotiates with renewable developers and it was a little beyond his scope to answer that question. Jason Geddes said, in follow up to the Chairman’s previous question, it was 300 megawatts of renewable capacity with a 1,500 megawatt plant and when the other two come on will there be enough renewable capacity by 2013 to meet the RPS. Mr. Sims responded that this was a question that should be posed to their transmission planning department. He said this was a request they made for their plant and first phase of this project. Assemblyman Jim Carpenter in Elko said nobody has spoken yet about the rail line that will have to be reconstructed, as he understood it, and a great portion of that line would be in Elko County, and could someone comment on that. Mark Milburn replied that the City of Ely just acquired the railroad in the last two months. He said LS Power all along said it was their intention to work with the City to get the railroad rehabilitated and now that the acquisition has taken place they initiated discussions with the City toward that end. He said they will be talking with their friends in Elko County about plans for developing the railroad. Mr. Sims said on behalf of Sierra Pacific Resources, they are in discussions with the City of Ely as well as the Nevada Northern Railroad Historic Foundation. He said part of the development plan was to figure out which portions of the rail could be rehabilitated and whether some sections have to be newly constructed. 6 Presentation from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development Tim Rubald, Director from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, said he was there to present a brief report on some of the economic impacts that were being talked about with some of the projects that have been presented today as well as some projects that may be coming into the region that would be impacted by the Air Force’s proposal. Mr. Rubald said that the economic impacts looked at specifically are the wind project and the LS power study. He stated that these numbers needed to be taken into consideration when looking at the fact that White Pine County is currently under the State Department of Taxation’s assistance because they are in “severe financial distress.” This is a statutory term used to describe counties that are going through severely tough financial times. He said that some of these concerns can be addressed by promoting economic development activities, not the least of which is the power plants and the wind generation facility. Mr. Rubald said the county as a whole would benefit from these including: all of the local governments in White Pine County; the City of Ely; the school district and all of the entities involved would benefit. He said they did some studies of the LS power proposal on the coal fired power plant and also published a study on a very similar wind power generation facility to what was described today. Mr. Rubald said they have not done any type of published work with regards to the line project or with the Sierra Pacific project but are in the process of doing so. Mr. Rubald said roughly speaking, if you look at the total economic impacts for the area, the LS coal fired facility would bring in, with approximately $800 million in investment, just the sales tax that would be generated for the local government would be approximately $40 million. On an annual basis the property tax that would be generated at all levels would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1213 million per year. He said it is very important that you differentiate between the fact that the $40 million dollars, although it is spread out over a 4-5 year period during construction, is basically a onetime opportunity, whereas the $12-13 million would take place as long as the facility is operating in a normal manner. Mr. Rubald said with regards to the wind project, that facility, considering 200 megawatts could generate approximately, $1.5 million in sales tax benefit directly to the White Pine County local governments on a one-time basis and, depending on how some situations work out as far as incentive programs that the Commission on Economic Development administers, could be as much as an additional $1 million per year in property taxes. Mr. Rubald said the wind numbers are anticipating the abatements afforded to alternative energy projects, whereas he would say that the LS coal plant numbers are not anticipating any type of abatements which are normally given to companies that create above average wage primary jobs. He said it is possible, according to the current statutes, that LS Power could receive some benefit from those abatements, which would take some of the tax benefit from the local governments as well as some from the state. He said there had been a similar project that was in front of the commission where there was a large differentiation between the number of jobs created and the huge amount of abatement that can be developed. This is something that will have to be negotiated because in the previous case the commission chose not to allow those abatements. Mr. Rubald said he would anticipate that the power line for the entire project would probably generate somewhere around $30 million in sales tax revenue to be spread over that 503 mile period. He said it 7 will generate around $7.5 million in annual property tax, again spread over that 503 mile period. He said for White Pine County alone you are looking at around $6 million in the one-time sales tax benefit and approximately between $1.3 and $1.5 million per year. Mr. Rubald stressed that this was a centrally assessed project and would be handled somewhat differently than with the recent change two sessions ago of the statute that allows the power plant and the wind generation project, despite the fact that they go on the grid, to not be valued from a centrally assessed standpoint but from a locally assessed standpoint. Mr. Rubald stated that he thought it was important as was noted by Assemblyman Carpenter moments ago that the Nevada Northern Railroad also be considered. He said there was a very large project in Elko County which is affectionately referred to as the Elko County Railport which is currently in developmental stages. The Commission on Economic Development is extremely involved in this project and will be passing on some of the generosity of the legislature in the next month or two in the form of some grants to that project. In addition to that if you look at the power opportunities that are being discussed today, not only the coal fired power but also some green energy, which is rather scarce in Nevada at the moment, although they have been trying to do all they can with some solar projects they have approved recently and helped through incentives. He said Ely, White Pine County and Elko County – when all of this comes together from an economic development perspective you have got somewhat of a perfect storm. Mr. Rubald said you have easily available power that is going to be relatively inexpensive and you’ve got green energy which is at a premium and extremely valuable to many companies. The Legislature last year passed a green building statute, which is currently going through some regulation drafting and promulgation processes and this is attracting attention from people who are interested in that type of thing. He said when you have the rail in there too, that is what is going to make things happen in this northeast corner of the state and he said he didn’t think it should be risked in any shape or form for the future of this area. Chairman Russell asked if Mr. Rubald’s office could make the wind study available to the Task Force when it’s published for the public in May so it can be posted on the Task Force website. Mr. Rubald said he will make sure the Task Force gets it. Chairman Russell said he was used to hearing in Clark County when conventions come to town or a fight is in town, etc., that this event will bring X number of dollars of non gaming revenue to the community. He asked in Mr. Rubald’s evaluation was he looking at mostly the tax benefits that the government needs to provide the services for its community and asked if he has generated a number as far as the economic benefit of the increase in the workforce on a local economic development basis, not focused on what accrues to the government but what accrues to the retail stores, grocery stores, restaurant, normal economy kind of things. Mr. Rubald said he has that information but not with him today. He said that information was generated through their modeling process when they did the tax revenue studies for the local government he talked about. Mr. Rubald said he would get that information to the Task Force. Chairman Russell asked if these projects would be a positive economic benefit to which Mr. Rubald replied yes, it would be absolutely huge. He said economic benefit oftentimes is based on the level of services you can derive from government. He said when you are servicing only 150 full time new employees you have that excess infrastructure that you not only pay for, but you have to service. He said that’s not going to be the case here if it’s built as it has been discussed with him. 8 Assemblyman Carpenter said they heard some discussion about Frontier, which he understood to be a new transmission line. He asked if anyone could explain exactly what is being discussed. Chairman Russell explained that the Frontier Line is a proposed transmission line which would start in Wyoming and move west on a route that has not yet been specifically identified and a number of the routes would pass through Nevada. The routes that come through Nevada would primarily come down the SWEEP (Southwest Energy Efficiency Project) corridor and the line is designed to carry approximately 6,000 megawatts and up to 6,000 megawatts of proposed wind power from Wyoming. He said the conversations go from there as to on-ramps and off-ramps regarding Nevada renewables and other power that could come from generators in Nevada. He said the genesis is there is a Resolution of Understanding that was signed by the Governors of California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming and a committee is in place studying the prospects of that line and the Task Force has representation on that committee. Chairman Russell stated that it is not as far down the road as the LS proposal or the Sierra Pacific proposal but there is potential coordination between the projects. Tim Carlson commented that this will probably be a DC line. DC carries that kind of capacity whereas an AC line, the largest it carries is about 500 megawatts. DC lines are not built to easily transfer energy at stopping points but the reason they use DC is to get the energy from point A to B without a drop-off point. It is hoped that drop-off points will be in Nevada, if there is a DC line going through our state, to allow for energy to be put onto that line and sent wherever it will end up eventually. Mr. Carlson stated that this was the expensive part and was where the state needed to hold tight in relationship to a negotiated position, because the only benefit we would get out of that particular line is if we had an interconnect in the state of Nevada at some location. Chairman Russell stated Rebecca Wagner, Director of the State Office of Energy, is Nevada’s representative on that Frontier Line Committee so the concerns that Mr. Carlson has identified, he understood to be fully expressed in the meetings when they are trying to design these projects. Presentation from Hill Air Force Base Clyde Rexroad, Director of Operations for the Hill Air Force Base presented a power point presentation regarding the proposal to expand the airspace (Attachment #3). Jerry Angus, Chief of Air Space Scheduling Office and Capt. Rob Goza, their Public Affairs Officer, were also present to answer any questions. Mr. Rexroad began by saying the Utah test and training range was very similar to the Nellis test and training range. He said their main charter in life is to support the war fighter in training and test weapons, especially large footprint weapons. He said they will give some background on why they need air space to train, a brief history behind the White Elk extension, some air space rule making changes they go through, and then their final military operations area concept. Mr. Rexroad showed a short video featuring some of the pilots giving reasons they need the airspace for training. He said they have pilots who fly on the UTTR (Utah Test and Training Range) that are straight out of flight school and then there are some very experienced pilots. In 2002 they identified when they do certain types of testing, i.e., cruise missiles, even though they have a large range most of that range is restricted air space but there is also some military operating areas (MOAs) and the cruise missiles are also flying in those. He said they also have newer platforms, newer jets, new weapons that require DOD (Dept. of Defense) lands for dropping munitions. He said they have identified the need 9 when doing large footprint testing and cruise missile testing that it takes up a considerable amount of time and air space, so they have to move those trainers somewhere; they have to be able to fly to do this testing as their major charter is to train. Mr. Rexroad said they have come up with a TTSNS (Test and Training Space Needs Statement). He said they looked at Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho for a place to go. In coordination with the FAA, the Utah Test and Training Range is just directly west of the Salt Lake International Airport and the amount of commercial traffic coming in and out of there prevented them from going east; the major routes in and out of the airport prevented them going up into Idaho; and some into the Montana areas and Wyoming. Further south near the Las Vegas areas is the major flow that comes into that airport. Mr. Rexroad said they also had an area on the west, called the Gandy MOA, which is on the border of Utah and Nevada and extends about 25-30 miles into Nevada, which they use daily and have used for many years mainly for refueling. Mr. Rexroad said he and Mr. Angus are also commercial pilots, and are very sensitive to everyone’s concerns. He said in 2005 they had the assigned airspace (ATCAA - Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace), approved for White Elk and with that turned the floor over to Mr. Angus. Jerry Angus said the White Elk area was assigned to them because the FAA said it was the only one that fit into the national air space system. Among the criteria they were looking at was it couldn’t be more than 160-200 miles from Hill Air Force Base, so that ATCAA got assigned and approved by the FAA in September, 2005. He said with that, the FAA said they expected them to pursue looking at the MOA they needed below that airspace because it fit into the National Air Space System with all the air carriers. In January their initial look was to go out and have a government to government BLM type meeting to look into who owned the land and what their concerns were. He said this is the initial phase you go through in the TTSNS, they hadn’t even gone through the environmental phase yet which is the public hearings. However, in White Pine, because of the concerns there they had representatives from the power companies, the airport authority itself and from the economic sector. He said they weren’t ready for that but they took all the information that was given to them by the people in White Pine and with that they looked at exactly how this would fit. Mr. Angus said this ATCAA here, the letter of agreement with Salt Lake Center allows them to use this for eight periods a year, a period being defined as seven days, and that is because of the cruise missile they have, or 56 days a year. He said that is what they are looking at for their usage by Hill Air Force Base, and also the MOA below that. Mr. Angus went over what the rule-making change was. He said from the Air Force’s standpoint they have to design the TTSNS which is basically validating the need for training air space with the cruise missile and they do a study on it to tell us whether it is valid. Then they have to come up with some desired operation areas and go out and take a look at them, which is what they do in the TTSNS and that’s how he got to Ely and Elko to find out more information. Once a final concept is decided on, which is what they are here today to brief everyone on, that starts the environmental impact analysis process which is public hearings, the official scoping of it and taking a look at it which could go all the way to an environmental impact statement. Mr. Angus said the environmental impact statement process takes 1-3 years, which hasn’t been started yet. Once a complete environmental analysis process is completed they hand it over to the FAA and they become the proponent of the rule making change or, record of document. He said the FAA takes 3-9 months because they go back out and have public hearings again because they want to validate what has been done and make sure it was accurate and that nothing has changed. If it is approved then the air space is published. Mr. Angus said they have looked at all the concerns that were brought to their attention and he explained how they came up with this concept. He said Tim Carlson brought up the wind generation 10 issue and they received a lot of good information about the area of Egan Valley where it was going to start and they saw that it would be 400 feet above the ground. They then looked at LS Power and the coal generation plant which was up to 650 feet, which was another concern. He said then there was another concern about the airway that goes from Ely to Elko. He said they then took into consideration the mountains around the region which are 12,000 feet at the highest peak. There was also the concern about the radio and radar coverage out there which was also reviewed. Mr. Angus said they then took all of that information back and said in order to mitigate all of these concerns they would put the floor of the military operating area at 14,000 feet above sea level. He said over the mountain range where the wind turbines are located, they are at 2,000 feet above ground level. Over the floor of the valley where all of the power generation is located, the pathways are going to go through there; the cooling towers are roughly at 7-8,000 feet or a mile and a half above those points. Mr. Angus said they also looked at IFR traffic and Ely Airport is looking at expansion there. He said they talked with the FAA to get some information on that and they found with increased instrument landing systems and the approaches the aircrafts have now, the highest approach is 11,200 feet on the initial and they do an arc coming in from the north so taking that into consideration they took the southern boundary and adjusted it so that it would eliminate any future expansion with the traffic going into Ely IFR and at the same time considering air carriers coming down from the north – you’ve got another airway that runs through there. But the MEA on that is 12,000 feet, so by being at 14,000 you can run traffic back and forth, north and south at 12 and 13,000 through there which allows the FAA to move air carrier and other traffic underneath that. Mr. Angus stated that one of the things they looked at in this proposal was soaring and one of the concerns brought up by Dan Callahan from Ely was he was concerned that people from the north may not stop in there to buy fuel. Mr. Angus said that one of the things he found out in general aviation is if you have a line there people like to move around and it creates kind of a funnel that leads you right into Ely, Nevada, to stop and buy fuel. If they decided to go around that, which he said he wanted to make his point, they don’t have to; general aviation can fly right through there. He said that leaves that access open to the Ely Airport and all of their future concerns and they have left enough buffer that in the event that wind turbines get up to 1,000 feet, nothing has to be readjusted. Mr. Angus said with that they want to go forward and start the environmental process and with the floor at 14,000 feet, it puts everything above that. Mr. Angus said that basically all of the concerns of both Ely and Elko that were addressed to them in January were resolvable. He said this is for them to get a win-win situation to work together to see how all of us can accomplish our missions in this. And again, we are talking about a maximum of only 56 days per year and we know what they are a year in advance so they can work with Ely soaring as to when their schools are going so that they won’t impede the soaring operations. Mr. Rexroad said they would like to start the environmental impact analysis and make sure the proper governmental officials, congressional delegates, and state officials are briefed. He said again, part of the environmental will be the public briefings and information. He emphasized, having been a civil pilot, nothing prevented him from flying inside a military operation area – there is nothing that would prevent anyone from doing that. He said they, as the controlling agency, when a pilot calls them for the program activity they will give the pilot what their program activity is. Mr. Rexroad said it was interesting at the Utah Test and Training Range they have the Bureau of Land Management that do horse roundups, antelope counts, sheep counts and they do all of that inside of the Air Force’s restricted airspace and MOA’s while the Air Force is testing. He said it’s the same thing when they 11 were testing over the Great Salt Lake when the brine shrimpers were out there, the Air Force does not impact their ability to do air surveys and the brine shrimp harvest. He said they try to be excellent stewards of the land, as far as environment is concerned, and he thanked the Task Force for the opportunity today to explain their proposal. Capt. Robert Goza of the U.S. Air Force said he was asked by his wing commander, Col. Bob Belatak, to make sure and communicate to the people in this community that the whole concept behind this proposal is to ensure that you are able to do the things that you need to do for your economic futures and that the Air Force can find a way to slide their proposal into that, making sure the citizens of this community are not negatively impacted. He said their entire goal is to make sure that the community is in at the ground floor. Capt. Goza said he knows that there have been some concerns stated back and forth and the media has gone to him several times asking what the Air Force was doing to this area. He said his response was that they didn’t even know yet. Capt. Goza stated that his commander wanted everyone to know that this is the beginning of a very lengthy process for the Air Force and there are two separate iterations of public comment from different time frames. He said they intend to have plenty of meetings like this one today where there are folks from all over the area who come and let them know exactly how their concerns might affect the Air Force proposal because the more concerns they can mitigate the more likely the Air Force proposal will get approved and everyone here will be satisfied with it. Chairman Russell thanked the representatives from the Air Force for their presentations and said he thought the way to work through these is to understand the positions of each party. Chairman Russell said what he understood them to be saying is that as currently designed their training missions will fly no lower than 14,000 feet above sea level. He also believed them to say, after listening to the presentations today, which set stacks and windmills at certain heights even though measured above ground level you can add the 5 or 6,000 additional feet to get down to sea level that all of those proposals are well more than 2,000 feet below the Air Force’s floor. Which Mr. Rexroad responded yes, 1,300-1,400 feet below their floor. Chairman Russell continued that as the proposal is today he understood that they were not objecting, from a usage or safety standpoint, to any of the projects that were presented today. Mr. Rexroad said they were not objecting to any of the projects proposed today for this area. Chairman Russell said it was good to understand that the projects that are being proposed for this area that will help the power company and the residents of the state are not going to interfere with the Air Force proposal to train their pilots and to train their crews. Mr. Rexroad replied that nothing presented today would impact their mission. Chairman Russell said that using the airspace only 56 days out of the year the Air Force was concerned about coordinating on a local level so they wouldn’t be causing any unnecessary concerns on the ground. And also when flying at times they move away from the population centers in case something happened it would happen in an uninhabited area. Mr. Rexroad stated that was correct. Jason Geddes stated that it was clear that the physical structures are not a problem with the 14,000 foot floor and asked if there were any concerns about the electricity and the frequencies and anything like that interfering with radar or instrumentation. Mr. Rexroad said he could not answer this because it was well beyond his knowledge and understanding but assured Mr. Geddes that the Air Force would look at this very closely and if they find any kind of AMI interference they would work around it. 12 Mr. Geddes asked if that situation arose would they adjust the airspace or would they recommend that these projects did not go forward. Capt. Goza responded that they would adjust their flight patterns to stay away from wherever the ion radiation extends to; it couldn’t possibly be as wide as the MOA that they were talking about so it wouldn’t really affect their proposal. Danny Thompson said there was a project in Las Vegas that was impacted by the Air Force and was in fact stopped. He said it was a wind generation project and didn’t remember all of the details but remembered that because of the radiation and the issues raised, that project was not built. He said he would be very interested in having someone come from Hill Air Force Base and tell them exactly what the details were. Mr. Angus said he had been at a conference three weeks ago at Langley, which is Air Combat Command Headquarters. He said a study was addressed where they are looking at the interference from wind turbines, but it was not on aircrafts, it was on ground-based radar, they don’t have any ground-based radar in those areas; theirs are to the east and the northeast, out of the area where that would be a concern. He said they are looking at that and that study is ongoing with no answers yet. He said he would try to find out when there would be more information available on that. Tim Carlson asked what was actually decided and why was it decided that Wyoming, Idaho and Utah were not accepted in the process and if the amount of public land involved was an issue. Mr. Angus said when they initially started this they looked at a 160-200 mile radius from Hill Air Force Base – they drew a circle and looked at anything inside that circle. He said as they narrowed it down they looked at northeast of Hill AFB towards the Wyoming/Colorado border and on the corner of Idaho, but the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) was the first to review it. The FAA looks at all of their air traffic from Denver to Atlanta to Seattle and then overlaid all of the traffic. They then drew a box and went back and sent the airplanes through and then went back and said if they were to use that area in an 8 hour period they would have to move 265 airliners at the cost of such and such dollars so they couldn’t support that. Mr. Angus said they then moved it further to the north to the Idaho/Utah border, which was a dual function; one was the arrival corridors into Salt Lake and the other was Seattle-San Francisco traffic that they bring through on the north part of the Utah Test & Training Range. He said there again that became a lot of traffic. Mr. Angus said they then looked at the southeast and before they even mentioned that they were told that was where the majority of the traffic came in over Fairfield and everything going down to Las Vegas and that was the only corridor they had with Nellis. So the last proponent was what they spent time on and drew up a plan and went out and tested and looked at it and did the load study and the only one the FAA could support going forward on was to the west. The FAA said that they were already taking the traffic around there and it works and by extending it out it wouldn’t be as much impact. He said you pretty much start at the top and work your way down, so if you are killed at the high altitude they never get to the ground area. Mr. Carlson asked if they had taken any of the other states through this step as far as doing business, it was all FAA, air traffic control decisions and economic impacts on other parts of the country. Mr. Angus replied no they hadn’t gotten that far with them. 13 Mr. Carlson asked if the Air Force was 14,000 feet above ground level and the wind turbines are in the neighborhood of about 8,500, and some as high as 9,000 feet adding another cushion of comfort, which puts you at around 10,000-10,500 feet from danger. He said that gives them 3,500-4,000 feet before a pilot would drop down to that level and said if the Air Force didn’t feel comfortable that they could train their pilots at the 14,000 foot level scenario they wouldn’t be proposing it right now, correct? Mr. Angus and Mr. Rexroad said that was correct. Mr. Carlson asked how this would affect radar. He said they would like to be assured that there is no radar issue here. He said today we talk about putting these turbines on various mountain ranges throughout this area and if we come back to the Air Force and for instance say that the Egan Range has 200 megawatts that is operating and we want to go a little further north to the Cherry Range or over to the Antelope Range or other areas, is the Air Force going to tell them they were approved for the Egan Range and can’t do it at these other places because it may affect radar or it may affect training. Mr. Carlson asked if all we had to do was stay below 14,000 feet. He said the radar issue is really a big issue because that was the tip of the arrow that stopped a previous project at the Nevada Test Site, even though the projects over in other countries that have a lot of turbines seem to solve those problems fairly easily. Mr. Carlson said his point was, they do not want to be stopped in any of these economic development areas in relationship to future types of things, we’ve got the projects today and the Task Force understands what we want to do today, but the whole area is open for economic development purposes as long as we stay below 14,000 feet. Mr. Angus replied that he could not answer what happened at Nellis as he did not know any of the background on that. He said that right now in the Severe MOA’s on the southern portion of the UTTR, there are wind generators getting ready to go in there in the very near future and they are right under the Air Force’s cruise missile profiles. He said we’ve worked those issues out with that county and it did not impact their mission. Mr. Carlson said that was a good point. He said over at Edwards there are a lot of flights going on and they’ve worked with the developers in those processes and it was very well received. He said he was glad to see the Air Force coming in at the beginning of the process and not at the end. He said he was also very glad to see that the radar issue was going to be discussed. Mr. Carlson said he received a map from Nellis which showed their radar finger interference area, it is actually cut off ranges that they are concerned about right now that they could put turbines on. He said they have backed off of some of those but would like to address this radar issue as a whole amongst Hill, Nellis and other places. Mr. Angus said that he agreed with Mr. Carlson. He said even though they have military radar, which is one concern, he would venture to say, and he is not a radar expert, but if it impacts a military radar it has to affect the FAA radar. He said right now they have sufficient radar coverage for that MOA. Mr. Carlson stated unless there is a new system out there that needs to be tested and in the future there could be some system issues that will have to be dealt with and we understand that, but the fact is that he wanted to make sure that everyone is clear that the entire area underneath the lines drawn on the map today was open for development as long as we stay below 14,000 feet mean sea level. Mr. Angus said the reason he looked at it this way was it was the simpler way to just raise everything higher because in the JMAC (Joint Military Area Command) that was a question he had asked. He said he had heard that the wind turbine projects were going to go all the way up to Egan Valley to the north and they only got the data for the south, so with that concern that now you’re going north you can go 14 anywhere over there and the idea was to stay above that. He said by moving the floor up to 14,000 their radar is now looking at the air points way above the place where the generation is going to go. He said even if you went all over the place and went up to 1,000 to 1,500 feet on the tips of the turbines; it still would not affect the radar coverage. Mr. Carlson said he still thinks this is a community impact and he has a lot of empathy in regards to the community in relationship to the airport and its expansion. He said he would reserve some of his comments on the economic impact on the airport until later in the meeting. Mr. Carlson said he thought the Air Force was working very well with all of the people and they appreciated their time and energy and consideration of how this issue will impact this area. Susan Lisigor from Senator Reid’s Office read a statement from Senator Reid regarding his support for renewable resources and the projects it took to bring them about. The statement went on to say that he was relieved to read press accounts that the Air Force was not going forward with its conceptual plan to expand restricted air space into the area of Ely and Lincoln County and that such an expansion could unwisely limit economic opportunities here. Senator Reid said he recognizes that the Air Force has a critical national security mission and that population growth and energy infrastructure, among other things, could encroach on that mission. He said he had faith in the military’s flexibility and inventiveness, as well as in the people who benefit from their vigilance. He said now more than ever we need to adapt our thinking and our defense posture to a new national energy policy. Senator Reid also said that we have to make better use of the energy resources that Nevada and the nation possess. In particular, we have to remove the obstacles to accessing our renewable and domestic energy resources and turning them into power, transportation fuels and job creating machines. He said a new national energy policy is a national security imperative and an economic growth and environmental requirement. Senator Reid offered his assistance and the assistance of his staff. Ms. Lisigor said personally she had some questions concerning the map that the Air Force presented. She asked about the EIAP (Environmental Impact Assessment Process) and whether that was a set process. The response from Capt. Goza was that it was a federally mandated process. Mr. Angus stated it was a NEPA process that Congress mandated back in 1976. She asked if it differed for some projects and whether some projects were more extensive in the EIAP, who made that determination, or was it all the same? Mr. Angus said the EIAP is what the Air Force has done with the NEPA process and expanding it. When some people ask if they are going to do an EIS or EA, it is mandated by federal law when they do the scoping and is based on things such as endangered species. Ms. Lisigor asked if just the external factors determine what kind of process it will go through or was it just kind of a package that you cannot mess with. Mr. Angus replied that the way the NEPA law was designed it is a federal process that you have to go through and if you short circuit the process the end results could be that you could be taken to court. But if you go through the correct process the way it’s supposed to be done it is designed to mitigate so we can all live and play together comfortably which is what it is trying to achieve. Mr. Angus stated that this process is always under scrutiny. Ms. Lisigor asked who it was under scrutiny by and Mr. Angus responded by all of the people in the public hearings and was looked at by the Air Force itself because the Air Combat Command is the driver that starts it – they pay for the entire environmental process. He said every one of us now has to do an environmental analysis and how we do that is mandated by federal law, although there are some people that shortcircuit that. Mr. Rexroad said they have their own environmental legal offices that make sure that they are compliant with the process by reviewing every step of the process. 15 Capt. Goza said he has never been on a base that has as big of an environmental section as Hill Air Force Base, which he thought was because of the range. He said there is an entire staff that handles all of the environmental issues to keep the Air Force from doing anything that would get them in trouble as far as those laws go. The next to speak was Commissioner Ken Heinbaugh of the White Pine County Commission and designated representative to the Airport and the Airport Advisory Board. Along with Commissioner Heinbaugh was Karen Rajala who is basically the White Pine County Economic Director. Commissioner Heinbaugh said that White Pine County has been having some economic problems, and from his own experience of living and working in White Pine County, it has been a difficult place to survive in. He said right now they have all these beautiful things out there that are just beginning to happen and he felt that this proposal by the Air Force could not have come at a worse possible time. Commissioner Heinbaugh said he truly hoped that these issues could be worked out without any longterm problems and he hoped that none of the things we’ve just heard about will be jeopardized. He said he has been a pilot for over 50 years and he’s seen what has happened when you start out with an MOA and then it becomes restricted air space and then more restricted air space is developed. He said he saw this happen over in the Fallon area and knows from many years of experience how difficult it is to fly from Ely to Reno, trying to go through those restricted areas around Fallon. He said he knows that when general aviation pilots see an MOA or a restricted area on a chart when they are mapping out where they want to go and how they are going to get there, they automatically deviate and fly around and as far away from these areas as they can get. Commissioner Heinbaugh said he would like to see what the Air Force’s plan is for one year and then five years and maybe fifty years down the road. He would like to know what kind of warheads they will be testing and what these cruise missiles will carry; all of these things need to come out and he realizes that they are only at the beginning of the environmental review and the public hearings, but he wants to see a complete environmental review and a lot of public hearings so they have the opportunity to have some input. Karen Rajala said she would like to make everyone aware that all of these projects being talked about here today have not just occurred recently, White Pine County first began working on a coal-fired power plant in 1978. She said they have put a lot of time and effort and resources into the development of these kinds of projects and are concerned about the potential impact of additional restrictions when we’re already working with several permitting processes at this point. She said they do see the potential of this impacting not only their power generation and their economic development but also their tourism. Ms. Rajala said they are just on the verge of expanding their airport and looking at those additional development opportunities. She asked everyone to also keep in mind that Steptoe Valley houses the primary commercial, residential and industrial activity in the entire county and although it may look like it’s an ideal location for the expansion of the military air space, it also concerns White Pine County about the future development potential once they see the projects spoken about today put into place and then they are looking at expansion beyond that. Commissioner Heinbaugh said everyone heard Mr. Rubald talk earlier about the tax benefit that would come to the county from these power plants being around $20-30 million per year. He said just for some perspective, their entire county budget today was only $7 million, so you can see what these projects mean to White Pine County. Mr. Angus stated that there are no plans for that restricted air space at this time. Capt. Goza said he did not anticipate there would be or they would have to go through this process all over again. Mr. Angus said there will be no cruise missiles coming out this way, no testing and they were not dropping 16 weapons. The point of this is to enable the F-16’s to conduct their missions out in this expanded area during those 56 days a year when they are also looking at firing cruise missiles, but it would not be in this area, it would be in the already existing restricted areas. Capt. Goza said the munitions on board their cruise missiles are not conventional, they’re not special weapons, they are just conventional explosives. He said his commander pointed out that the Air Force really appreciated all of the support that this community has given to them and they realized based on noise and some of the things that the Air Force does they are not always the easiest neighbors to live next door to. He said they try to be very good stewards, not just with their relationship with the community and the people who live in it, but also the environment and to make sure they don’t encroach on anything more than is necessary to accomplish their mission. Presentation from Dan Callahan from Ely Airport Dan Callahan said the community has been very supportive of the Air Force but he was there today to say that the support just stopped. He said there has been a lot of confusion for everyone but please be clear that a restricted area is not what is being talked about here – they are talking about a military operations area and it is for joint use and is available for the general aviation public to travel through. He said MOA’s exist around almost all restricted areas and they exist to protect the military restricted areas. Mr. Callahan said for basically the last 30 years the military has spent a lot of time and energy telling the general aviation traffic to stay clear and stay out of the MOA’s because they are fairly unsafe. Mr. Callahan said there is one thing the public needs to know very clearly; the 14,000 foot level also coincides with the existing radar and radio capabilities and don’t support aircraft under 14,000 feet, they simply cannot see them or talk to them. He said even commercial instrument flights, when you depart to the north on an instrument flight plan, whether it’s commercial or not, you cannot talk to Salt Lake Center below 13,500, so we’re in a void here. Mr. Callahan said another thing that has not been brought up is that all general aviation traffic is controlled by the FAA above 18,000 feet so you have to be on an instrument flight plan to be above 18,000 feet. He said they discussed at the last meeting that the north end of the valley is already being used above 18,000 feet by Clover for refueling. On the right day, if you know where to look you can see and hear them from here. He said the highest hills in the neighborhood are 12,000 feet and part of that is Cherry Creek and part is the park. Mr. Callahan continued that in their last conversation concerning the F-16 it was brought up that they may be dropped out of the training program in about 68 years and they are going to military aircraft with higher altitude capabilities. He said these two things; first we’re 2,000 feet above the existing terrain and second, we’re probably going to change to a different style of aircraft training in this area; we simply don’t need to be very low, there isn’t that much difference between 14,000 and 18,000 except the military has a whole lot less homework to do to be above 18,000 feet because it’s already restricted airspace. Mr. Callahan said the area being talked about today is bounded by restricted areas and MOA’s to the east and to the west and to the south and we have this nice big wide valley that the general aviation public likes to travel up and down, north and south. He said as an aside, right now, since November, the main traffic for general aviation has been north and south; the main direction for business travel just over this winter has been east and west. Mr. Callahan said the area that is being proposed by the Air Force crosses the main general aviation route and even though it’s joint use, the problem is that it is marked on the charts as an MOA. He said the general aviation does whatever they can to stay away from these areas and Jerry said it funnels the traffic to Ely, except that it also funnels the traffic across high terrain. He said they are going to go into Ruby Valley and crossing the Rubies, crossing the 17 Diamonds and this is a more preferred route and people will take it until they feel like they are pushed out. Mr. Callahan’s final remarks were that he actually liked the representatives from the Air Force and was not there to assassinate them but somebody has to say “no”. He said it doesn’t make any sense – go to 18,000 and stay up there, it’s a lot easier. Kevin Kirkeby of Senator Ensign’s Carson City Office and Marc De la Torre of the Reno Office, were representing the Senator. Mr. Kirkeby said because Senator Ensign is a member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee he has a great understanding of the importance for the Air Force and the military to conduct the training that they need and supports the nation’s military operations for our national security. However, he also understands that these needs have to be balanced with the needs of the local communities and the other stakeholders. Mr. Kirkeby said their office has been in quite a bit of discussion with Hill AFB about this and he wanted to make everyone aware that they were trying to find a win-win situation where Hill AFB can do the training it needs but not in a way that will negatively impact eastern Nevada. He said White Pine County has led the battle on this issue, along with the County of Elko, the City of Elko and the City of West Wendover, all of whom were very concerned about this and he was sure they had a whole host of issues as well. Mr. Kirkeby said if you look on the map and find the City of West Wendover you will find it nestled between many military designated areas so he was sure they had many special concerns as well. Mr. Kirkeby stated that by and large he had been pleased with the meeting’s discussions. He said a lot of points have been brought up and he thought most of those had been addressed by Hill AFB and other presenters. He said one thing he did not hear much about was how Life Flight operations will be impacted and he knows that Hill AFB had mentioned that they’d be limited to the use of that for about 56 days a year but he wondered what would happen if a Life Flight from Salt Lake needed to fly into Ely during one of those days or one of those missions. He said a life crisis happens when it happens, there is no planning for it, time is of the essence and those flights need to come in as quickly as possible and pick up the patient and get them, normally, to Salt Lake as fast as possible. Mr. Kirkeby said he would be interested in hearing how that might be impacted by this proposal. Mr. Angus said currently with Life Flight/Life Guard they experience numerous calls for them to go even through their restricted air space and they have priority through the restricted air space and the MOA’s and are also handled with priority by the FAA. He said if there is a test in progress, they will delay that test to let these flights through. Mr. Kirkeby said that both Senator Reid and Senator Ensign have both been working on a lands bill for White Pine County. As part of that bill they were looking at the transfer of BLM lands to the Ely Airport for future expansion, commercial activities and it was also brought up that the International Soaring Community has taken an interest in the Ely area and he believed this year was the first year they held a world event of soaring. He said all of this is important economically for the area. He said we’ve heard about the power plant and economic activity there, which is something both Senator Ensign and Senator Reid have been involved in. Between the two Senators they were able to grant the BLM right-of-way to the City and come up with about $2 million for the restoration and upgrade of that track. Mr. Kirkeby said it was their offices’ focus to have these power plants and have the infrastructure available to them so this can be a reality to help White Pine County as well as eastern Nevada. 18 Public Comment Michael Kneese, Regional Planning Commissioner in Ely, asked if there had been an impact study with Nellis Air Force Base out of Las Vegas to share with them during that 56 days of the year? Mr. Angus replied no, because Nellis was outside of the criteria of being within 200 miles. Mr. Kneese said that Nellis had a huge air squadron area. Mr. Angus said again, this comes down to time and money. He said the analysis took this into consideration and for them to take a jet to go all the way to Nellis would take a lot of fuel but right now using White Elk they can be back with only one refueling. He said they also then don’t have to compete with Nellis on their air space. He said Nellis, UTTR, Tonopah, Edwards, White Sands Missile Grounds; each one is unique in what they do for the defense of the nation, so we don’t compete with each other. People ask why they couldn’t just have one range, but if we just had one range it would not be able to accommodate all of the aircraft. Mr. Kneese said Nevada lands are 75% under government control to start with and for us to be giving out more air space, is kind of bad timing, this little county could grow given the opportunity. He said they’ve got an airport designated, as was heard earlier, with the ground all laid out, which Elko will not be able to do. He said he sees a lot of possibility and hears a lot of hostility from people about what is going on for that deal. Mr. Kneese said, he understood that the government owned 89% of them already and the government is taking everything but not giving anything back. He said this is the hurdle the Air Force is going to have to go over regarding this issue. Mr. Angus said the government brings in a lot of business, and this will be a divert airfield and the jets will be coming in to refuel – 8,000 gallons of jet fuel is a lot of money, a lot of taxes. Mr. Angus said they were sensitive and wanted to hear everyone’s concerns. He said he will take those concerns and pass them on to his superiors. Mr. Bill Davidson, Retired, USAF, said he has not heard any concerns about Highway 93, north and south. He said this highway is getting loaded with trucks and we’re going to see Highway 93 turn into four lanes within the next ten years. He said they will be forcibly feeding Yucca Mountain through us from the north end and northwest, there is no better way for them to get there. Mr. Davidson said if you’re flying with missiles around over the top of a treacherous route of ground with trucks possibly carrying harmful loads, he thought this would be an issue to also watch for. Transmission to the other areas was cut off promptly at 5:00pm so adjournment was made in Ely but was not recorded. Attachments to meeting minutes:  Attachment #1: Consultant’s Report  Attachment #2: LS Power Presentation  Attachment #3: Air Force Presentation Meeting Minutes Approved: (Date) _______________________ Transcriber: __________________________________________ 19