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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Camila Gallardo, NCLR
(305) 573-7329 or cell: (305) 215-4259
Rocky Fernandez, CEP
(702) 900-3049 cell
Las Vegas, NV. A town hall forum held in Las Vegas today brought together members of the Latino community and representatives of local business, labor, and workforce development to discuss clean energy as a possible piece of a plan to put Nevadans back to work. Participants in the forum hosted by NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and the Clean Energy Project (CEP) expressed frustration with the ongoing unemployment crisis and listened with interest as the panel—moderated by Nevada State Senator Ruben Kihuen—described the links between Nevada’s energy choices and job creation and the potential impacts on the Hispanic community.
Nevada, the state with the highest unemployment rate, has aggressively pursued clean energy production in industries like solar, wind, and geothermal power, as well as energy efficiency initiatives. Panelists pointed out that the failure of federal policymakers to enact comprehensive energy and climate change policy has prevented clean energy from achieving its full job creation potential at the state and local level.
“While the State of Nevada’s current policies have made us leaders in geothermal energy, per-capita solar production and energy efficiency, we are just getting started” said Lydia Ball, Executive Director for the Clean Energy Project. “With stronger clean energy goals, we can generate thousands more jobs and stabilize our household energy bills, while making the Silver State the heartbeat of clean energy in the West.”
“As Nevada continues to blaze trails in clean energy production, we must take steps to ensure that new opportunities for jobs and economic opportunity are open to all communities,” said Catherine Singley, Senior Policy Analyst from NCLR’s Economic and Employment Policy Project. “Today’s town hall highlighted the fact that investing in a home-grown workforce can benefit workers and businesses alike.”
For more information about NCLR, visit www.nclr.org
For more information about the Clean Energy Project: www.cleanenergyprojectnv.org
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