Environment of Nevada

The environment of Nevada comprises diverse biotas, climates, and geologies. Environmental regulations and the environmental movement have aimed to respond to environmental threats.

Biota

Main articles: Fauna of Nevada and Flora of Nevada

Climate and climate change

Main article: Climate of Nevada

Renewable Portfolio Standard

In 1997 Nevada passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard as part of their 1997 Electric Restructuring Legislation (AB 366) It required any electric providers in the state to acquire actual renewable electric generation or purchase renewable energy credits so that each utility had 1 percent of total consumption in renewables. However, on June 8, 2001, Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn signed SB 372, at the time the country's most aggressive renewable portfolio standard. The law requires that 15 percent of all electricity generated in Nevada be derived from new renewables by the year 2013.^[1]

The 2001 revision to the RPS keeps in place Nevada's commitment to expand solar energy resources by requiring that at least 5 percent of the renewable energy projects must generate electricity from solar energy.^[1]

In June 2005, the Nevada legislature passed a bill during a special legislative session that modified the Nevada RPS (Assembly Bill 03). The bill extends the deadline and raised the requirements of the RPS to 20 percent of sales by 2015.^[1]

State parks

Further information: List of Nevada state parks

Yucca Mountain Repository

Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is the proposed U.S. Department of Energy deep geological repository storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste. The repository is located in a desert on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada, about 80 miles from the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The repository lies within Yucca Mountain, a ridge line in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The ridge is composed of volcanic material (mostly tuff) ejected from a now-extinct caldera-forming supervolcano.

References

1 2 3 http://www.newrules.org/electricity/rpsnv.html

Environment of the United States by political division

States	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Federal district	Washington, D.C.

Insular areas	American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands

Protected areas of Nevada

Federal

National Parks and Monuments	Basin and Range NM Death Valley NP Great Basin NP Tule Springs Fossil Beds NM

National Recreation Areas	Lake Mead Spring Mountains (USFS)

National Forests	Humboldt-Toiyabe Inyo Lake Tahoe Basin

National Conservation Areas	Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails Red Rock Canyon Sloan Canyon

National Wilderness Areas	Alta Toquima Arc Dome Arrow Canyon Bald Mountain Becky Peak Big Rocks Black Canyon Black Rock Desert Boundary Peak Bridge Canyon Bristlecone Calico Mountains Clover Mountains Currant Mountain Death Valley Delamar Mountains East Fork High Rock Canyon East Humboldt Eldorado Far South Egans Fortification Range Goshute Canyon Government Peak Grant Range High Rock Canyon High Rock Lake High Schells Highland Ridge Ireteba Peaks Jarbidge Jimbilnan Jumbo Springs La Madre Mountain Lime Canyon Little High Rock Canyon Meadow Valley Range Mormon Mountains Mt Charleston Mt Grafton Mt Irish Mt Moriah Mt Rose Muddy Mountains Nellis Wash North Black Rock Range North Jackson Mountains North McCullough Pahute Peak Parsnip Peak Pinto Valley Quinn Canyon Rainbow Mountain Red Mountain Ruby Mountains Santa Rosa-Paradise Peak Shellback South Egan Range South Jackson Mountains South McCullough South Pahroc Range Spirit Mountain Table Mountain Tunnel Spring Wee Thump Joshua Tree Weepah Spring White Pine Range White Rock Range Worthington Mountains

National Wildlife Refuges	Anaho Island Ash Meadows Desert Fallon Moapa Valley Pahranagat Ruby Lake Sheldon Stillwater

State

Historic Parks	Belmont Courthouse Dangberg Home Ranch Elgin Schoolhouse Fort Churchill Mormon Station Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Ward Charcoal Ovens

Recreation Areas	Big Bend Lahontan Rye Patch South Fork Walker Lake Wild Horse

Other	Beaver Dam Berlin–Ichthyosaur Cathedral Gorge Cave Lake Dayton Echo Canyon Kershaw–Ryan Lake Tahoe – Nevada Spring Mountain Ranch Spring Valley Valley of Fire Van Sickle Washoe Lake

Previous	Floyd Lamb

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