The Hualapai Valley Solar (HVS) Project is a 340 MW solar power plant being developed on more than 4,000 acres of private land in a remote area of Mohave County, Arizona. HVS will generate clean energy for approximately 250,000 homes in our region, create more than 1,500 construction jobs at the peak of its 3-year construction period, and will provide an annual impact of more than $21 million on the regional economy once operational -- all while requiring minimal taxpayer-funded services. HVS' efforts to use treated wastewater as its primary cooling water source will generate additional revenue, reducing the burden on local rate-payers while significantly limiting the Project's use of groundwater.

With high levels of unemployment affecting all of us, a large-scale renewable energy project provides a solid foundation for rebuilding a healthy regional economy. Furthermore, if we don't start building some of these solar projects today, we will never cut our dependence on oil and coal, and our grandchildren and planet will suffer the consequences.

I understand that not all proposed green energy projects will get built in today's economic climate. As a responsible and informed citizen, I support the wet-cooled Hualapai Valley Solar Project -- one of the most viable, most technologically advanced, most responsibly developed, and best sited solar projects in the American Southwest.