NEVADA

Google’s new geothermal electricity project hailed as milestone

An advanced geothermal project has begun pumping carbon-free electricity onto the Nevada grid to power Google data centers there, Google announced on Nov. 28.

Getting electrons onto the grid for the first time is a milestone many new energy companies never reach, said Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Google’s geothermal partner in the project, Houston-based Fervo Energy.

The International Energy Agency has long projected geothermal could be a serious solution to climate change. It said in a 2011 roadmap document that geothermal could reach some 3.5% of global electricity generation annually by 2050, avoiding almost 800 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Fervo is using this first pilot to launch other projects that will deliver far more carbon-free electricity to the grid. It’s currently completing initial drilling in southwest Utah for a 400-megawatt project.

The site near Winnemucca is sending about 3.5 megawatts to the grid. There are three wells there.

The United States leads the world in using the Earth’s heat energy for electricity generation, but geothermal still accounts for less than half a percent of the nation’s total utility-scale electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said earlier this year that advances in enhanced geothermal systems will help introduce this form of energy in regions where it’s been thought to be impossible. DOE said the United States has potential for 90 gigawatts of geothermal electricity – the equivalent of powering more than 65 million American homes – by 2050.

MONTANA

TikTok ban blocked by judge who says it’s unconstitutional

HELENA – Montana’s first-in-the-nation law banning the video-sharing app TikTok in the state was blocked on Nov. 30, one month before it was set to take effect, by a federal judge who called the measure unconstitutional.

The ruling delivered a temporary win for the social media company that has argued Montana’s Republican-controlled Legislature went “completely overboard” in trying to regulate the app. A final ruling will come at a later date after the legal challenge moves through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said the ban “oversteps state power and infringes on the Constitutional right of users and businesses” while singling out the state for its fixation on purported Chinese influence.

Montana lawmakers in May made the state the first in the U.S. to pass a complete ban on the app based on the argument that the Chinese government could gain access to user information from TikTok, whose parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing.

It would prohibit downloads of TikTok in the state and fine any “entity” – an app store or TikTok – $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access or download the app. There would not be penalties for users.

TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown issued a statement saying the company was pleased that “the judge rejected this unconstitutional law and hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok.”

Christian Corrigan, the state’s solicitor general, argued Montana’s law was less a statement of foreign policy and instead addresses “serious, widespread concerns about data privacy.”

The state hasn’t offered any evidence of TikTok’s “allegedly harmful data practices,” Molloy wrote.

Molloy noted during the hearing that TikTok users consent to the company’s data collection policies and that Knudsen – whose office drafted the legislation – could air public service announcements warning people about the data TikTok collects.

WYOMING

Transportation agency offers $2,000 hiring bonus to fill vacancies

CHEYENNE – As several agencies within Wyoming state government continue to struggle to provide services due to a shortage of full-time employees, the Wyoming Department of Transportation at the end of November announced a $2,000 hiring bonus program.

The “strategic” move is to help the department find enough to staff to meet its mission in providing state services, according to a WYDOT news release, and is available to all permanent positions.

Doug McGee, a WYDOT spokesperson, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle there are currently 200 to 250 full-time openings out of 2,000 positions within the department. There are shortages of snow plow drivers, engineers, Highway Patrol dispatchers, Highway Patrol troopers and in maintenance dispatch centers, as well as mechanics in multiple locations.

This level of vacancy creates challenges for the department all year round, McGee said, but staffing shortages have become an increasing concern with the winter season looming ahead.

Staffing shortage issues have increased significantly for WYDOT since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, McGee said.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department joins WYDOT in their need to fill vacant, full-time positions. A 2022 report released in late October found that law enforcement position vacancy rates at Game and Fish were at nearly 20%.

A shortage of law enforcement for the department hasn’t been an issue until recent years, according to the report. Game and Fish has struggled to hire and train enough law enforcement to replace those who retired or voluntarily left.

OKLAHOMA

Barbie doll honoring Cherokee leader spurs mixed reactions

OKLAHOMA CITY – An iconic chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, inspired countless Native American children as a powerful but humble leader who expanded early education and rural healthcare.

Her reach is now broadening with a quintessential American honor: a Barbie doll in the late Mankiller’s likeness as part of toymaker Mattel’s “Inspiring Women” series.

A public ceremony honoring Mankiller’s legacy was set for Dec. 5 in Tahlequah in northeast Oklahoma, where the Cherokee Nation is headquartered.

Mankiller was the nation’s first female principal chief, leading the tribe for a decade until 1995. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

The tribe’s current leader, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., applauded Mattel for commemorating Mankiller.

The rollout of the Barbie doll featuring Mankiller wearing a ribbon skirt, black shoes and carrying a woven basket has been met with conflicting reactions.

Many say the doll is a fitting tribute for a remarkable leader who faced conflict head-on and helped the tribe triple its enrollment, double its employment and build new health centers and children’s programs.

Still, some Cherokee women are critical, saying Mattel overlooked problematic details on the doll and the packaging.

Regina Thompson, a Cherokee basket weaver who grew up near Tahlequah, doesn’t think the doll looks like Mankiller. Mattel should have considered traditional pucker toe moccasins, instead of black shoes, and included symbols on the basket that Cherokees use to tell a story, she said.

The Cherokee language symbols on the packaging also are wrong, she noted. Two symbols look similar, and the one used translates to “Chicken,” rather than “Cherokee.”

Mattel spokesperson Devin Tucker said the company is aware of the problem with the syllabary and is “discussing options.”

NEW MEXICO

UFO Museum in Roswell reaches 5 million visitors

ROSWELL – The International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico, is celebrating an out-of-this-world milestone: 5 million visitors.

A father and daughter from Roswell became the lucky visitors when they entered the museum on Nov. 21, the Roswell Daily Record reported.

Chris and Hannah McDonald received balloons, memorabilia and a lifetime family museum membership.

Museum Executive Director Karen Jaramillo said it was a surprise that Roswell residents brought them to 5 million because so many guests are from out of state.

The UFO Museum, which opened in 1992, draws over 220,000 visitors each year, Jaramillo said.

Roswell has been a hub for people fascinated by space and extraterrestrial phenomenon since the 1947 so-called Roswell Incident.

Something crashed at what was then the J.B. Foster ranch, with the U.S. Army announcing it had recovered a “flying disc” but later saying the debris was merely the remnants of a high-altitude weather balloon.

Speculation about extraterrestrials and government cover-ups has existed ever since, inspiring books, movies and TV shows.