Gov. Lombardo withdraws Nevada from U.S. Climate Alliance

(From LV Review-Journal)

RENO — Gov. Joe Lombardo revoked Nevada’s membership from a multistate coalition focused on combating the effects of climate change last week, citing “conflict” between the group’s goals and the state’s energy policy objectives.

The first term Republican informed U.S. Climate Alliance Executive Director Casey Katims of the state’s withdrawal from the organization in a letter dated July 5, pointing to a March executive order that called for a diverse energy portfolio in the state’s future.

“While the goals of the U.S. Climate Alliance are ambitious and well-intentioned, these goals conflict with Nevada’s energy policy objectives,” Lombardo wrote in the letter.

The move makes Lombardo the only governor elected in the last election cycle to withdraw from the Alliance, a bipartisan group touting more than two dozen member states that aim to achieve goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

Member states include some of Nevada’s neighbors, including California, Oregon and Arizona, which joined the coalition Tuesday. Nevada first joined the multistate alliance in 2019 under former Gov. Steve Sisolak.

U.S. Climate Alliance Communications Director Evan Westrup said the organization was “disappointed” by the withdrawal.

“As unprecedented wildfire smoke, record heat, and catastrophic floods sweep across the country, we need every state and every governor — no matter their politics — confronting this crisis,” Westrup wrote in a statement. “We’re disappointed Gov. Lombardo has decided to move in another direction and should he reconsider, our door is open.”.

Several progressive and environmental groups slammed the withdrawal, calling the move “nonsensical” and “reckless.”

“We are outraged by Governor Lombardo’s nonsensical withdrawal of Nevada from the U.S. Climate Alliance,” Nevada Conservation League Executive Director Paul Selberg said in a statement. “While Nevada is being hit hard with record temperatures and soaring energy bills, Lombardo is putting utilities and their profits first.”

Shelbie Swartz, the interim executive director of Battle Born Progress, said the group was “disgusted.”

“We are disgusted to see that Governor Lombardo has pulled Nevada out of the U.S. Climate Alliance,” Swartz said in a statement. “Lombardo’s reckless move will further endanger the planet and our communities.”

In March, Lombardo issued an executive order calling for a diverse energy policy that takes a “balanced approach to energy use and development,” according to the order, and includes the use of natural gas.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.