OPINION: Will Tonopah ever find its place in the sun?
Their appreciation for Nevada’s special place in the mining world reminded me of a conversation I had in 2022 with Andrew Woods, director of UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research. He bottom-lined it this way: “The demand for energy storage between electric cars, homes and commercial is only going to grow exponentially. The demand for batteries is forecasted to grow five times in the next eight years. Climate change is no longer a question of mitigation, but of human survival.”
An asterisk is appropriate here. Our conversation took place back when the American president believed in climate change. He offered a full-throated endorsement of a bold and costly renewable energy policy, one that coincidentally was also an economic driver in rural Nevada. Science-driven climate policy has been labeled a hoax by the current occupant of the White House.