Star Peak is the highest point of the Humboldt Range at 9840 ft and one of the 7 ultra prominent peaks in our beautiful state of Nevada!

Four months ago, I posted a walkthrough of how NV Energy actually works. I wanted to sift thru all the partisanship and noise and to identify the signals. In short: we can't switch providers, NV Energy earns a return on what it builds, and a huge data center buildout is coming.

The open question was/is who pays for it. What can we do? This post is a follow-up, as we still have leverage.

The PUCN hearing on the data center contract starts Monday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. If you want your view on the record, you have to file a written comment before it starts.

As of Oct. 14, six public comments were on file. Six. Only one was from an individual.

Here's what's actually on the table:

1. What's being decided. NV Energy wants approval of a standard contract for data centers (the "Large Load Electric Service Agreement"). It's supposed to make data centers pay for the new gas plants and lines built to serve them. Everyone in the case says data centers should "pay their own way." They disagree about how to make that real.
2. The PUCN's own staff says reject it as written. Six staff experts recommend denying the contract and opening an investigation into stronger protections. The state's consumer advocate (the Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the AG's office) also opposes it. Its letter calls the contract "harmful and even insidious to ratepayers." NV Energy is asking for approval.
3. The scale. Staff estimates about $29 billion in generation, transmission and related costs tied to resources needed solely for the big new customers. Staff says that number is "likely on the lower side."
4. The fights:
   1. Minimum payment. NV Energy wants data centers to pay for at least 90% of the power they reserve, used or not. Several developers asked for 70% to 80%.
   2. Collateral. The consumer advocate wants cash or letters of credit covering 100% of what a data center could leave behind. Developers asked for far less.
   3. Forecast risk. If plants get built for data centers that never show up, who pays? Staff's fallback, if the deal is approved anyway: NV Energy's shareholders should be "fully at risk" for forecasting errors.
   4. Your rate. NV Energy's own illustrative numbers show everyone else's rates rising "less than 0.5 percent." Staff's answer: "There should be no impact to existing customers."
   5. Grid emergencies. Some proposals let data centers be cut first in an emergency. None of the filings names homes and hospitals as protected first.
5. To be fair to the other side. NV Energy says its contract already makes data centers pay up front for new generation, and that more big customers can spread fixed grid costs over more sales. Developers say sky-high minimums and collateral would make projects impossible to finance. Those are real points. The question is how to protect the rest of us without just chasing the projects off.
6. The one question I keep asking. Every promise in this case sounds good. "We'll pay our own way." "Our demand will show up." So ask: if it doesn't, then what? A promise only protects you if the contract says what happens when it fails. Minimum payments. Exit fees. Collateral the utility can actually collect. Only one developer (Prologis) put a concrete mechanism on the table: an annual true-up with a balancing account, which it says it's "prepared to commit to."

What you can actually do (pick one):

1. File a written comment before 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26 (aim for Friday, Oct. 23). Online through the PUCN e-filing system (you need an account), or by mail to the PUCN, Attn: Docket 26-05007. Short and specific is fine.
2. Speak for 3 minutes at the PUCN meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 10 a.m., in Carson City or Las Vegas. Or email a comment for that meeting to [BPA@puc.nv.gov](mailto:BPA@puc.nv.gov).
3. Tell the consumer advocate. They're the ones who represent us in the room. 702-486-3132, cite Docket 26-05007. Their online survey is still open (en Español).
4. Watch it. Live stream at puc.nv.gov, Oct. 26 to 29.

For your convenience: I put the deadlines, a fill-in-the-blank comment template and the sources on one page: https://info.soprio.com/nevada-energy/hearing/

Two honest caveats before you file:

• Your name and address become public. That's how the PUCN works.
• Comments go into the record, but the PUCN doesn't treat them as evidence. So why bother? The consumer advocate can use them. And commissioners, legislators and reporters can count them. Right now there are six. That number is the story. A decision is expected by Dec. 31. The Legislature meets in February with at least three bill requests "relating to data centers." What gets said in this docket is what they'll be reading.

TL;DR: The PUCN hearing on who pays for data center power plants starts Oct. 26. The PUCN's own staff and the consumer advocate both say reject the contract as written. NV Energy wants it approved. Everyone says data centers should "pay their own way"; the fight is whether the contract actually makes them. Six public comments are on file. File yours before 10 a.m. Oct. 26: https://info.soprio.com/nevada-energy/hearing/

This is the only political mail I have received from Nevada since moving, and my mail forwarding is long since passed. Every other campaign seems to have figured out that sending flyers to a Washington address is kind of stupid.

I can’t help observing the irony that the Republican candidate for Attorney General is effectively asking a citizen of another state to vote in Nevada’s election. A+, keep up the good work!

Like 10% of the vehicles have red flags with x's on them. I'm used to that for off road side by side stuff, but it's on 15 passenger vans. Mining stuff?

Needed to run in to pick up the books I had on hold and found the historical marker guidebook for sale! Im going to cherish it as a little memento the journey I’ve been on.
Little spoiler for what my next picture post is going to be when I can find the time to sit down and write about it
✌️

PS: the Nevada Rose book is so expensive. I’d love to own it one day.

Rates. I can’t even get a new job right now because no one is hiring. I literally will have to move out of my house to another state to keep health insurance with this company. Which means that I will be paying way more for cost-of-living.

Employer wants me to tell them all the doctors I currently see to prove they don’t accept this new health insurance they are offering me.

I would love to be near lake tahoe but it's too expensive, so were looking as close as possible where theres job opportunities plus fun things to do for a family. My husband is wanting to get into the hvac field and I have been a stay at home mom for the past 4 years but want to start working once we move. Any towns or cities you guys would recommend? We've been looking at carson city but getting mixed reviews

NEVADA STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 084: Jedidiah Strong Smith

Location: near White Pine County Fire Station 1📍 (39.29092, -114.83899)

From May to June 1827, explorer and trapper Jedediah Smith found a route from California’s central valley to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah. He became the first European American to completely cross what is now Nevada.

Because Smith’s journal and map have never been found, his exact route is unknown. Based on Smith’s own statements about his difficult trip, modern historians and geographers have pieced together the most plausible route. Smith crossed the Sierra Nevada at Ebbetts Pass, swung southeast along or across the headwaters and middle reaches of the Walker River, and passed into central Nevada’s open spaces south of Walker Lake.

Smith entered Smoky Valley on its southwest side in June 1827 and crossed the valley in a northeasterly direction. He then paralleled the future Simpson survey, route of the Pony Express and Overland Stage, along modern U.S. Highway 50.

He entered Utah at Ibapah.

———

Do you see the rainbow in the background? :)

This is the last historical sign I have to post for a while. Thank you for not banning me for being annoying on the sub every time I go on a trip. I have visited and posted 55 of them in the last 5 years. If all goes well, I may have 3 more by the end of the year. The remaining ones require a longer trip which requires more resources on my end. I have a dream to see more of Nevada and hope I will achieve it before I’m too old.

I’m horrible at geography so PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that Jedidiah was walking here where the sign is placed / picture was taken. I did very minimal google search but it seems he maybe was up near Schellbourne?

I enjoy visiting Utah but I am not usually paying attention to the history of it but I guess it’s technically our history, too. Help me out!

​

I'm pretty sure some of you recognize me by now.

I'm the guy from Reno who keeps posting about his criminal case, court records, constitutional rights, and whatever new procedural absurdity I've discovered this week.

And I get it.

From the outside, it probably looks like some dude who lost his mind, became obsessed with the legal system, and now spends his free time arguing with judges on the internet.

Fair assessment, given the available advertising.

But there's something I haven't explained very well.

I don't actually want to be doing any of this.

I was an electrician. I worked construction. I understood that world.

If something was wired wrong, you could test it. If a junction box was buried behind drywall, you could open the wall. If someone insisted the circuit was fine, you could hand them a meter.

Nobody's résumé changed the voltage.

Then I ended up in the criminal justice system.

And I discovered that when I asked seemingly ordinary questions about procedures, deadlines, evidence, and decisions, getting a straight answer was considerably harder than I expected.

So I started reading.

Then I started researching.

Then I started learning how to use AI because I didn't understand half the terminology and couldn't afford to have somebody explain everything to me.

Then I started building software to organize the records.

Then I started catching mistakes in the AI.

Then I started building tools to catch those mistakes automatically.

Somewhere along the way, I went from barely knowing how to navigate a computer to maintaining a GitHub account full of legal research tools, evidence-analysis systems, document processors, and software experiments.

None of this was the career change I had planned.

And my criminal case still hasn't gone to trial.

That's the ridiculous part.

I started trying to answer one question: What exactly is happening to me, and what does the law actually require?

Nearly four years later, I'm developing software to help answer that question systematically.

But here's why I keep posting.

I'm trying to find out whether what I'm seeing makes sense to anybody outside my own head.

Not whether you like me.

Not whether you automatically believe me.

Not whether you think every judge is corrupt or every defendant is innocent.

I want somebody to look at a document and tell me what it actually establishes.

If I'm wrong, show me.

If there's a statute I'm misunderstanding, point it out.

If the court's reasoning is correct, explain the part I'm missing.

I've changed arguments before. I'll change them again.

What I can't do is accept that something must be correct because the person saying it has a law degree, a robe, or 30 years of experience.

I wouldn't accept that from an electrician standing in front of a smoking breaker panel, either.

And I don't think that's an unreasonable standard.

For example, I filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit. It was dismissed without prejudice under a jurisdictional doctrine called Rooker–Feldman.

I've since learned that my original complaint had real drafting problems. I mixed claims, remedies, and requests that should have been separated.

I can acknowledge that.

But that leaves another question: Did those defects justify dismissing every claim, including potentially independent claims for damages?

That's now part of my appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

I'm not asking Reddit to decide the appeal. I'm explaining why there's still something to examine.

And here's the part that matters more than any filing.

Even if I win tomorrow, I don't get the last several years back.

My family doesn't get that time back.

The financial damage doesn't magically disappear.

The opportunities I missed don't reappear because somebody signs an order.

And if I lose, that doesn't erase everything I've learned or built.

I have a life outside this case. At least, I'm trying to get one back.

That's why I've started looking at the software differently.

Maybe the evidence-verification tools I've developed can help somebody dealing with an insurance company.

Maybe they can help someone audit government records.

Maybe they can help an attorney catch an unsupported citation before filing something.

Maybe some of it turns out to be useless.

That's what testing is for.

But I don't want the only product of this experience to be a stack of motions and a collection of increasingly creative swear words.

I want something useful to survive it.

So why do I keep posting here when most of my posts go nowhere?

Partly because I want people to understand what's happening.

Partly because I need outside perspectives.

Partly because I've spent so much time buried in these records that I genuinely need people who aren't personally invested to challenge my assumptions.

And partly because I refuse to believe that asking an institution to explain its decisions should be treated as suspicious behavior.

I realize I don't always communicate that well.

Sometimes I write like I'm cross-examining the entire state of Nevada.

Sometimes I assume everybody has read the previous 400 documents.

Sometimes I'm so irritated that the point gets buried under the irritation.

I'm working on that.

But I want to make something clear.

I'm not asking anybody to join a crusade. I'm asking people to examine the work.

If you think I'm wrong, tell me exactly where.

If you're an attorney, point me toward the controlling authority.

If you're a developer, tell me what would make these tools reliable.

If you've been through something similar, tell me what you learned.

And if you're just here because watching an electrician attempt to reverse-engineer the judicial system sounds like an interesting misuse of a perfectly good afternoon, I understand.

I didn't expect this plotline either.

I don't know how my case ends.

I don't know whether the software becomes a business.

I don't know whether anybody outside my immediate circle will ever care about any of it.

But I do know that I can keep improving the quality of the questions I ask, the evidence I preserve, and the things I build.

And I can stop expecting strangers to absorb my entire life story before they can participate.

So here's my actual question:

When someone without credentials identifies what they believe is a documented procedural error, what would you need to see before you'd take the finding seriously?

Not the person.

Not their reputation.

Not their criminal charge.

The actual work product.

Because that's the standard I'm trying to hold myself to, too.

And for what it's worth, I really would prefer to go back to building things that don't require reading federal appellate decisions at two in the morning.

Unfortunately, I seem to have developed a rather specific skill set.

Might as well make it useful.

I just recieved my mail-in ballot. I'm tempted to just fill it out and mail it as I have previously. I plan to vote Blue all the way, but I live in Douglas county, which is more rural and openly favors conservative politics. And I've seen a lot of prominent figures online saying that mail-in ballots are susceptible to being ignored or discarded, and that it's a safer bet to vote in person. Are my concerns valid? Or am I overthinking?

I have sentencing hearing nov 2nd with Anne traum

Two counts. Felon in possession of ammo and unregistered firearms 38 Ghost Guns. 6 silencers. 7 pounds of leaf, Jigs, scales, Rigs, THS, $12k cash.
Pre trial release for 4 years fighting suppression. Lost. Caught new charge on pre trial release. Currently on probation for that as well

My judge seems to be very liberal and gives big variances. She originally suppressed my evidence so I think I can toy with her at the hearing. i wanna get off with no time at all

anyone here been sentenced for similar charges before? How did you convince the judge to give you no sentence? If you've dealt with a more liberal judge like her, lmk what I can do

This is not a question on your opinion on the issue. I don’t care. I’m simply confused because I thought we had the right to choose here already?

On a complete side note - thanks
For clarifying that it doesn’t force people to have abortions. 🤦‍♀️
Good lord

NEVADA STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 009: Copper Country

Location: White Pine County Rd 44A 📍 (39.2835975, -114.9642225)

The famed open-pit copper mines of eastern Nevada, including the Liberty Pit, largest in the state, are located two miles south of this point.  Through the first half of the twentieth century, this area produced nearly a billion dollars in copper, gold, and silver.  The huge mounds visible from here are waste rock, which was removed to uncover the ore.

Two miles east of here, near Lane City, was the Elijah, the first mine discovered in the Robinson Mining District.  Lane City, originally called Mineral City, was settled in 1869 and had a population of 400.  At Mineral City was the Ragsdale Station, one hotel, and a stage station.

———

This picture is awful. The sun was very high in the sky and blew out the highlights. I didn’t have enough skills to recover it.

These plaques are better than the one I posted yesterday but I still prefer the big blue signs.

The view here was gorgeous just outside of Ely. It looks like the town of Ruth is down this little road. Have you been to the bar there?

I’ve only got 1 other historical sign to post and then I need to finish pulling the photos from my camera.

I hope this belongs here.

Denverite here. Coming to Vegas for an event mid-November. Thinking of taking a day and checking out some of the natural areas the valley has to offer. I've been told Valley of Fire is absolutely spectacular. Can anyone make any recommendations of some food day hikes there? I will also ask the same of Red Rocks. I promise I respect your natural treasures and will practice LNT at all times (we have the same problems in Colorado). Thank you all for the help.

Lombardo has been disastrous for my department. Completely rescinding remote work forced many talented employees to leave, and we've had crazy turnover ever since. His admin are still free to work remotely (of course), but even employees requesting remote work for medical accommodation are being denied.

His response to state workers during the fires has been very callous. I was forced to evacuate from my home, but informed that I was still expected to either come in to work or work remotely (even though I'm not set up for remote work because, remember, remote work is forbidden). There is a similar cavalier disregard for state employees during bad winter road conditions. He just doesn't give AF about our safety or wellbeing.

The cyber attack that had the state shut down for a while last year was also not appropriately explained to state employees. On my end, I was barely able to do my work because many aspects of my job had been made electronic. The whole affair was touted as a success after spending $1.3 million on contractors and having state employees work overtime to fix it. It was a nightmare.

He has been overseeing our admin disregarding the NRS. In my department, that means taking funds from programs and using them for pet projects. It's infuriating to see our state infrastructure weakened through greed. Additionally, he violated the NRS by vetoing approved union raises. Very slimy behavior.

Please be careful not to dox yourselves, friends. I'd love to hear from other state workers how they think Joe has done as our boss.

Hyst windring

NEVADA STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 269: Ely Forging the Link

Location: Ely Renaissance Sculpture Park 📍 39.2481822, -114.8912131

James H. Simpson put the future site of Ely on the map during his 1859 exploration through the Great Basin.  In the 1860s, silver and gold deposits were discovered nearby in what became the Robinson Mining District.  Ely developed as a regional center, becoming the White Pine County seat in 1887.  The area grew dramatically in the early 1890s with major copper discoveries.  The Nevada Northern Railway, headquartered in East Ely, carried ore from the mines in Ruth to the McGill smelter, as well as connecting Ely to the world on its 150 mile route north to the transcontinental railroad.

The towns of eastern Nevada were joined during the late nineteenth century by a network of wagon roads.  In 1913, the road through Ely was incorporated into the transcontinental Lincoln Highway, though it was not paved until 1922.  Ely had over 2,000 residents and offered many services, making it an excellent stopping place on the long road across the Great Basin.  When the copper industry declined after World War I, the struggling town turned to travelers for income.

The Lincoln Highway was designated U.S. 50 in 1926.  By mid-century the popularity of the Victory Highway, now Interstate 80, reduced U.S. 50 to the status of “The Loneliest Road in America.”

In addition to the Lincoln Highway, two other major national roadways converge at Ely.  The Midland trail, designated Route 6 in 1937, was an early coast to coast automobile road that also connected Ely to Tonopah and southern California.  U.S 93, which passes north-south through Ely takes travelers from Canada almost to the Mexican border.

———

Is this a safe place to admit that I’m not a fan of the signs when they aren’t the big blue Nevada state ones? It’s always a bit disappointing and these never photograph well.

Have you driven the length of the 50? Were you familiar with the term Lincoln Highway? I’m just learning about it now.

NEVADA STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 100: Nevada Northern Railway

Location: White Pine Public Museum 📍39.2526, -114.87867

Mark Requa’s Nevada Consolidated Copper Company laid 150-mile of track from Cobre, on the Southern Pacific line, to Ely in 1905-06 to haul ore from the Copper Flat mines west of Ely.

Ore was loaded into railroad gondolas at Copper Flat for the trip to the smelter at McGill, over a double-track trestle that was 1720 feet long.  The trestle burned in 1922 and was replaced with an earth-fill span.

Passenger service and the “school train” carrying McGill youth to Ely High School ended in 1941.  With the closing of local copper mines in 1983, the railroad ceased operations.  Currently, part of the line serves the Nevada Northern Railway Museum for live steam rides.  The East Ely shop complex for the Railway was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2006. 

———

Will be back in Ely to give the museums a proper visit. I didn’t want to rush them so we skipped them on this quick trip.

Posting again bc someone tried being rude to me yesterday about it and I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with it and I deleted the post. The automod caught it before I could read the entire message but what I could see in my notifications made me upset.

I saw this collection of decanters in Hotel Nevada while I was in Ely. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen some of the collection in person. Like one of the users commented yesterday, I have seen them for sale in the LV Peddlers store down here in Vegas.

They’re created by this famous tiki guy named Captain Dug Picking. The brothel series was made between 1976-2000. The first couple were made in Japan with some gross alcohol in it and then production was moved to Mexico and the liquor replaced with another kind that people enjoyed more. One of the rarest ones in the collection is for the Shady Lady Ranch. I haven’t seen her for sale online but apparently she goes for a few hundred. The most of any of them that were made were 1500 but some of them were only made in sets of 700.

More exist than just what’s in this one picture.

My husband surprised me by buying me one of these to start my collection. He picked out the one for Fran’s since I love to go there to take pictures of the sign and plane.

I’ve been posting little things about the brothels on this sub for a few years now. I guess you could say it’s a special interest that falls under my love for Nevada. I like collecting little trinkets and roadside souvenirs. I also recently picked up a model of Roy’s in Amboy and a model of the thermometer out in Baker, CA (two other roadside attractions that inspire me creatively)

I’m sorry that some of you think it’s appropriate to make fun of me or the things I like. I felt seen and heard having my interests catered to. Not everyone has to enjoy this part of Nevada’s history or even enjoy me and my content, that’s totally fine.

I’ll be back later with another historical sign post.