According to Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation, “the state’s unemployment rate in December is 6.4 percent, decreased by 0.5 from 6.9 percent in November and decreased by 1.8 percentage points when compared to December 2020.”

After this report was published, Governor Steve Sisolak commented,

“I am pleased to see December’s employment numbers. The large increase in employment over the year reflects Nevada’s ongoing recovery from the COVID recession and the growth in varied industries throughout the state is encouraging. With Nevada continuing to add jobs, and unemployment leveling off, we must remain vigilant as the state continues its recovery from the pandemic and the potential impacts to the economy and labor force,” said Governor Steve Sisolak.

Nevada’s unemployment rate is second worst in the country (California is worst), with many placing the blame on the governor’s response of lockdowns and mandates during the pandemic. Those measures hit the service-based economy of Nevada with particular ferocity.

In a tweet, Governor Steve Sisolak promised to build the “green energy economy” with “good-paying union jobs.”

Within the Slacker article, Nevada leads the top 10 states in terms of a solar powered economies—leading with a mere 6,174 jobs. However, to build the green energy economy requires a significant amount of land and water to install and maintain solar farms–prompting pushback from conservationists, city councils, and tribal communities.

According to Slacker:

“Solar will almost certainly continue to expand in Nevada, as the Bureau of Land Management considers three proposed solar projects that would power 520,000 homes. But this expansion has prompted pushback from tribal communities, conservationists, and others who support clean energy but worry that new construction threatens Nevada’s tribal lands and deserts.”

As reported by The Globe,

“In 2019, Nevada voters mandated the state derive 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. In response, Governor Steve Sisolak issued an executive order that aims to meet that ambitious goal, specifically citing a 5.7 degree increase in temperature since 1970. This executive order has led to an insurgence of solar projects impacting rural communities and sparking public backlash.

One such project, Battle Born Solar, which the governor wanted fast-tracked in 2020, was ultimately withdrawn in July 2021 after a backlash from community activists, environmental conservationists, and endangered species activists.”

Another solar project under construction in Boulder City, used 20 million gallons of precious water in just one month to “mitigate dust’ yet was still fined by the county for not meeting dust mitigation measures.

As Sisolak, along with President Biden and his Nevadan Democratic colleagues promise to “Build Back Better”, seemingly the costs of a green energy economy come not only in the form of taxes, fines, and excessive land development, but from stripping the state of one of its most precious, natural resources during a historic drought.

As Nevadan’s struggle to find work, Sisolak reminds the unemployed that only union employees will benefit in the Democratic plan to “Build Back Better,” non-union employees need not apply.