Nevada is facing its worst drought in two decades. The dry conditions are important for the forecasts facing fire managers as they start planning for the warm summer months. This week’s Indy Environment newsletter looks at a recent media briefing on Great Basin fire risks.

Sponsored by Sen. Chris Brooks (D-Las Vegas), SB448 would expand the state’s transmission infrastructure in line with NV Energy’s multibillion-dollar Greenlink Nevada initiative, along with requiring a $100 million investment in electric vehicle charging stations, expanding rooftop solar to multi-tenant and commercial buildings and proposing a host of other measures aimed at lowering carbon emissions and building up renewable energy infrastructure.

Although Democratic lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a 2050 net-zero emissions goal two years ago, the two pieces of natural legislation — and the debates around them — show that tensions remain in the party (which controls both the legislative and executive branches) over how to best move forward on facilitating a transition toward decarbonization.

With the legislative session almost halfway over, this week’s Indy Environment newsletter looks at several bills, including proposals to transition away from natural gas, change mining oversight and create new programs for how water is managed across the state.

This week’s Indy Environment newsletter looks at a legislative effort to protect a unique population of Rocky Mountain juniper trees in an area known as Bahsahwahbee, or “the sacred water valley” in Shoshone. For Indigenous communities, the area means everything.

This week’s Indy Environment newsletter looks at a long-awaited congressional bill that would change the way federal public land is managed in Clark County, creating a path to expand the Las Vegas metro area toward California while setting aside land for conservation.

Of the 42 seats in the state Assembly, almost a quarter will be decided in the primary election. Four races will actually be decided in the primary — including three incumbent Republicans fending off challengers — because no other candidates filed to run in those districts. Another five races will effectively be decided in the primary, given vast disparity in voter registration totals making it all but impossible for the opposing party to gain a foothold.

Only about 27 percent of Democrats showed up to caucus in Nevada in 2008 and even fewer showed up in 2016. As Democrats prepare to hold what they say will be the most transparent, expansive and accessible caucus ever, newly obtained data shed light on who, historically, the state's caucusgoers have been.

Good morning, and welcome to Indy 2020, a biweekly newsletter focused on the 2020 presidential election in Nevada. A reminder that email subscribers get early access to this newsletter, so be sure to subscribe and tell your friends. It’ll be peachy.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is working to change the conversation around the Clark County lands bill proposal, especially as it relates to conservation. To do that, the senator’s staff began floating legislative language — known as a “discussion draft” — Tuesday that aims to resolve some of the most controversial aspects of the county’s plan.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's request to intervene in permitting for proposed energy storage projects at two Nevada lakes. It also breaks down the conversation around Clark County's climate efforts and the county's federal lands bill.

Scott Huntley, an executive with the water authority, said Monday that the SNWA’s executive team had decided to move the proposed contract from the authority’s Thursday meeting and instead kick it to a January meeting of a citizen’s advisory board.

Of the top four Democratic presidential campaigns, only three have signed on as sponsors of the Nevada State Democratic Party's First In The West Event this weekend.

It’s warming and getting warmer. And if you’re one of the 2.2 million Nevadans living in Las Vegas or Reno, it’s happening quicker than in many other cities across the United States. Not only is the average temperature increasing in Nevada, cities like Las Vegas are expected to experience a significant increase in the frequency of extreme heat, according to a peer-reviewed study and report released Tuesday.

AB465, scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Committee on Growth and Infrastructure on Tuesday, represents the last, best chance for renewable energy advocates to leave the 2019 legislative session with a bill that would directly expand direct solar access and likely lower electric prices for thousands of Nevadans priced out of traditional rooftop solar systems.

A seemingly minor change in the legal definition of hydropower could have potentially significant implications by allowing entities, including NV Energy to leverage existing large hydropower facilities toward meeting the RPS, thereby giving them a leg up toward meeting an increased standard without requiring any new spending to expand renewable energy.

Mirroring efforts in other states, Assembly Bill 486, introduced by the Committee on Ways and Means, would create a recreation office within state government to help expand the industry and coordinate conservation efforts on land used for backpacking, hunting and fishing.