Nevada: LS Power closer to coal deal

"We're thrilled. This is a major milestone for the project," said Mark Milburn, LS Power's director of project development.

The power plant would give the Ely area a big shot in the arm, Milburn said.

During four years of construction, employment would peak at 1,200 workers and the area would get $100 million in property and sales taxes, Milburn said. After completion, the plant would employ 135 workers and would add $15 million to local tax revenue yearly.

While Ely leaders back the project, environmental groups and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have conducted an intense campaign to stop development of new coal plants in Nevada.

timestranscript.com - Harper slams Dion plans during N.B. visit

SAINT JOHN - Prime Minister Stephen Harper tailored his ongoing denunciation of Stephane Dion's carbon tax to Saint John yesterday, charging the Liberal plan will devastate the region's energy sector.

Harper also conceded his own plan to regulate the emissions blamed for global warming will raise costs, but ducked a question asking him to outline those costs so voters could compare them with Dion's plan.

"There's nothing that would be worse to the economy of Saint John than the imposition of a carbon tax," said Harper, in Saint John for a brief campaign stop.