Search query: arizona

The dirty little secret about power generation is that most states, including Arizona, rely heavily on coal. Sure, Arizona has mandated 15% renewable energy by 2025 but for now, King Coal reigns. Even California, which has a much more ambitious plan of 33% renewable by 2020, relies heavily on coal. However, and somewhat hypocritically, California has banned coal plants within its borders while importing a vast amount of coal power from neighboring states, including Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexi

By most accounts, the Arizona border appears to be safer than ever. Illegal border crossings are down, mainly because the Department of Homeland Security is able to monitor more of the border than ever before. That's the conclusion reached by The Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive advocacy and research organization, after its recent trip to the Arizona border. In its detailed report, the organization documents the recent history and build-up of border security, stating in a matte

Members of the Tea Party movement have been called a lot of nasty things before like: crazy, extremists, teabaggers, and racists, but in the final hours of the debt ceiling debate, just one month before the ten-year anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, many Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden, have been calling Tea Party members the nastiest name yet: terrorists. Sources in the room told The Politico that in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats with Vice President Joe Biden,

Research shows that almost half of all Arizona mortgages were "underwater” by the end of the first fiscal quarter of 2011. Only Nevada, at 63 percent, had a higher rate of homes with negative equity, this according to the most recent report by the private research firm CoreLogic. Although the overall number of Arizona homeowners who were underwater outdid most in the nation, their average negative equity was $5,000 below the national average of $65,000, highlighting the large disparities in hou

Based on the latest report from the office of the Arizona Secretary of State, both major parties continue to lose support as the growth rate of Arizona's Independent voter base further intensifies. "Registered Republicans dropped by more than 3,000 voters since April, while Democrats hemorrhaged nearly 8,000 voters in the same period, the report showed. However, the number of independents, those registering without a party or with an unrecognized party, jumped by more than 13,000." The Green V

EnviroMission, an Australian company, plans to build the world's largest solar tower energy plant in the world in Arizona by 2015. When completed, the central tower will be 2,625 feet tall, twice that of the Empire State Building, and one of the tallest structures on the planet. It will output a substantial 200 MW which - depending on how you measure it - is enough to power 100,000-150,000 homes. Further, it requires no fuel but the sun, has zero emissions, and can produce power even when the s

Farmworker movement leader Richard Chavez passed away Wednesday at Bakersfield hospital. Richard helped found the United Farmworkers of America with his brother Cesar. According to union spokeswoman Maria Machuca, he died due to complications from surgery. Chavez was 81. President Barack Obama issued a statement in which he praised the deceased's diligence and commitment to his ideals. "Richard understood that the struggle for a more perfect union and a better life for all America's workers di

With registered voters abandoning the Democratic and Republican parties statewide, the Green Party’s candidates for mayor of Tucson see an opening ahead of their primary election showdown late next month. In June, Democratic party activists successfully purged all Republican party and Independent hopefuls from the ballot in this year’s mayoral election in Tucson, ensuring a two-party race between the Democrats and Greens, as reported here at AZIVNlate last month.  Following the Green Party’s fi

More than 80 applications have been filed in Arizona for wind and power plants. If even some of them are approved, it would mean thousands of new jobs, increased tax revenues, and other economic benefits, as well as being a major step towards the state-mandated goal of 15% renewable energy by 2025. As of 2010, Arizona generated a tiny 0.3% of its energy from renewables so it clearly has a long ways to go.  A number of hurdles stand in the way of renewable energy in Arizona. Power grid: Transmi

The haboob that hit Phoenix on July 5 was indeed a monster, the largest in decades. It was at least 100 miles long, lasted for two hours, and was several thousand feet high. A second, less powerful haboob hit on July 18.  Such dust storms are relatively common in Arizona. The good news is that their frequency has been steadily decliningthe past few decades, down to about 2 per year at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix from 8 per year in the 1940'-50's. This is partly due to urbanization and less fa