September 6, 2010

 Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today made the following statement on the news that Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a $78.8 million loan guarantee for the Blue Mountain geothermal project in Humboldt County.

“As I led passage of the Stimulus bill, I worked to include this loan guarantee to help fund clean energy projects like Blue Mountain that has put people back to work and bring us closer to energy independence.  Secretary Chu has been to Nevada many times and I thank him for recognizing the Silver State as a leader in developing these clean energy resources.”

The Blue Mountain project has a 20-year power purchase agreement to sell renewable energy credits and electricity to NV Energy.  The loan guarantee was issued under the Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP), which is designed to expedite the loan guarantee process for renewable energy projects that use commercial technologies and expand credit capacity for financing renewable energy projects in the U.S.  FIPP is a Department of Energy program that is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.