MARK WAITE / PVT Eileen Christensen, president of BEC Environmental Inc., addresses Nye County commissioners. Advertisement

The Las Vegas consulting firm BEC Environmental Inc. got a reward from Nye County Commissioners Tuesday for bringing home the bacon, when it comes to renewable energy projects.

Commissioners almost doubled the firms contract, from $120,000 to $220,000.

BEC Environmental recently helped Nye County sign an option with Solar Millenium to lease up to 640 acres of land at the Tonopah Airport for $25,709 annually. Solar Millenium wants access to the land to conduct a feasibility study for a solar powered project.

Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley said Solar Millenium also is negotiating with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to lease two adjacent sections of land for the project. The company responded to a request for proposals for alternative power issued by Nevada Power, which is under a mandate to provide 20 percent green power under Nevada's renewable portfolio standards by 2015.

BEC Environmental Inc. President Eileen Christensen said her company had to subcontract with legal counsel to draw up the Tonopah airport lease. I's important to move quickly in appraising property and approving contracts when someone comes to the table, she said.

If a project fails to materialize, Christensen said, "part of our job is to make sure you have the assurance if those people fall down on the deal you at least have the bond."

Eastley said BEC has also been involved in working with a potential developer which has expressed an interest in establishing "an international port" at the Tonopah Airport.

Nye County Natural Resources Director Jim Marble said the contract with BEC Environmental has been more successful than county officials have expected. But Eastley still pushed for a county business manager to recruit clients.

Christensen's report stated since BEC began economic development work with Nye County the county realized $157,500 from successful grant applications, $492,000 from a congressional grant for renewable energy projects, $150,030 leveraged by facilitating grant applications and a $12,854 option to lease county property.

Individual grants include a $42,500 state cultural affairs grant for the old Nye County courthouse, $50,000 for the former Barrick Bullfrog Mine and $65,000 to abate the old Gabbs recreation hall.

Assistant County Manager Pam Webster said the county will use payment equal to taxes received from the U.S. Department of Energy for the land value of Yucca Mountain for the $100,000 amendment to the contract.

"We actually did three separate projects in Pahrump. All three of them decided to go elsewhere based on the challenges they faced," Christensen said.

One company that wanted to locate a small, solar powered project in Pahrump, Sithe Global, moved elsewhere after concerns were raised by Valley Electric Association, the local cooperative. VEA is not under requirements to provide a percentage of renewable energy in its portfolio under state law.

But Christensen said, "Commissioner (Gary) Hollis's cooperation working with the local co-op will definitely make a difference in the future."

There's currently two more renewable energy projects under consideration in the Pahrump area, Christensen said. Another four companies expressed an interest in solar projects in the area between Pahrump and Beatty, while another company wants to construct a wind power project in the Beatty area, Christensen said.

Nye County installed anemometers to study wind speeds for the installation of any wind turbines in the Beatty area, she said. The U.S. Air Force has advised which areas would be acceptable for wind power projects that don't interfere with radar at Nellis Air Force Base, Christensen said. That will hopefully avoid a situation like happened back in 2002 with M & N Wind Power when the air force shot down their wind and solar project on the Nevada Test Site at the 11th hour.

A wind power project is also being studied in the tri-county border area intersected by Nye, Esmeralda and Mineral counties, Christensen said.

Renewable energy projects increase the development of transmission lines and other related infrastructure, which will attract other business to the area, her report to the county states.

Two geothermal projects are pending in the Carvers area, in Big Smoky Valley in far northern Nye County. Two companies, Raser Technologies and Ormat Technologies, submitted successful bids during a BLM auction of geothermal leases last August. Those bids resulted in another $561,000 in lease revenue to Nye County, outside of BEC Environmental's work.

"In addition to renewable energy projects we're also working with the contractor out at the Nevada Test Site for a couple of different projects in the Amargosa and Mercury area," Christensen said.

There is also an attempt to persuade the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to focus some of their research projects in Nye County instead of exclusively in Las Vegas, she said.

Eastley said some of the sites developers are looking at were cleaned up using funds from the brownfields grant. That program is targeted toward re-mediation of industrial sites, like the Tonopah Airport, a former army air base.

Eastley said she's traveled extensively throughout the state meeting with power companies, the governor's office and others about alternative energy projects.

While commissioners were pleased with the work of BEC Environmental Inc., Eastley said, "One of the most critical positions we need in Nye County is a business manager. It's someone capable of carrying the ball when it's handed off by them to a developer to the goal line, which is getting that business open. We have no one to negotiate those contracts, we have no one to draft those contracts, we have no one to review those contracts," Eastley said.