Renewable energy tax proposed

(AP) " Insisting that power customers benefit from Nevada's nascent renewable energy industry, Assembly Democrats want to tax solar, wind and other clean energy produced in the state.

Their wide-ranging renewable energy bill would extend upfront tax breaks for building renewable energy plants in Nevada but would tax the electricity, most of it sent out of state. The new revenue would fund a renewable energy commission, energy efficiency rebates and a program to help Nevada customers with their power bills.

"Renewable energy is Nevada's oil," Assembly-woman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said Wednesday. "Just as Alaska used its resources to benefit the residents of Alaska, we believe we need to be equally diligent to make sure Nevadans benefit from our precious resources."

Critics asked during a hearing why lawmakers would tax the clean energy they are trying to promote instead of the pollution-creating energy they want to replace.

AB522 is one of several competing measures. Gov. Jim Gibbons presented a similar bill Tuesday and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, is expected to introduce another one.