| Let's Win This Race |
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Senator Mike Schneider Chairman of Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Thursday, February 19, 2009  I have lived most of my life in Nevada and I love this state. My wife and I raised our only child in this state. He just got married and I couldn’t be more proud to watch him beginning his own family. Thinking of his family and his children makes me determined to make sure Nevada’s future holds promise for him and other families starting out. I believe it is our moral responsibility to leave this state in better shape than we found it. We owe it our children and to their children. As chairman of the Nevada Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee, I promise that we will make renewable a top priority for the legislative session. With a clean energy Nevada, we will not only leave a cleaner and safer planet for our children, but we will also create much-needed jobs here in Nevada. To get involved, or sign up to receive future updates, click here.  We must act now. We need to put Nevadans back to work. We need to diversify our economic base. And we need to do better than we have up until now, because as the Las Vegas Sun recently reported we are “lagging in the race to a green future.” Click Here to read the Las Vegas Sun article. This is Nevada’s race to lose. As the Sun noted, our sunny days, wide open spaces, and the needs of our next door neighbor—California—should make us a frontrunner in the new green economy. Instead, we have fallen behind. We have not laid the groundwork to support a renewable energy economy and we have not invested in educating a workforce equipped for that industry. That’s just not good enough. We owe it to our children. To get involved, or sign up to receive future updates, click here. We need to welcome and grow the renewable energy industry in Nevada. The renewable energy industry is not limited to renewable energy plants, but also the manufacture of renewable energy equipment and materials. We need to do what we can in the next 120 days to create a business friendly environment for the renewable energy industry – at the same time emphasizing the new, higher-paying jobs that can be created here if we develop our renewable resources and supporting industries in the right way.  And we need to invest in education, developing partnerships with higher education and vocational education. UNR and UNLV should be applauded for their renewable energy programs. As a state, we need to partner with them to make sure the jobs in Nevada’s green economy go to well-trained Nevadans. This Friday, we are hearing a bill introducing the Green Jobs Initiative, sponsored by Senator Steven Horsford. This initiative would leverage federal recovery money with state investment to create training programs in Southern, Northern and rural Nevada, teaching Nevadans skills necessary to re-enter the workforce in "green-collar jobs." It is exactly the type of bold leadership we need to catch up in this race. To learn more about the Green Jobs Initiative, click here. We all know that times are difficult. Now is the time to have the courage to take bold steps towards building a more stable future for our children. All my best, Mike
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