James Humm has spent the past 9 years traversing Nevada’s governmental roster similar a inferior player—from serving arsenic lawman main of unit for a Republican lawyer general, to ushering economical improvement bills done the Legislature nether erstwhile Gov. Steve Sisolak and existent Gov. Joe Lombardo, to starring the state’s Cannabis Compliance Board. Most recently, helium was appointed by Lombardo to manager of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Energy.
Humm steps into his caller relation astatine a clip erstwhile Nevada’s vigor infrastructure is astatine a crossroads. According to NV Energy’s 2026 Integrated Resource Plan, statewide request for energy is connected gait to astir treble successful the coming decades. Greenlink, an NV Energy-led improvement of 2 caller state-spanning high-voltage transmission lines, is 1 effort to grow the state’s powerfulness grid, but a caller Desert Research Institute survey suggests the proliferation of caller information centers could offset those gains.
The Weekly caught up with Humm to perceive his instrumentality connected what it’s similar helping the metropolis and authorities helium grew up successful navigate its adjacent large test.
As a Valley native, however has watching the maturation we’ve experienced implicit your beingness informed your attack to nationalist service?
My dada was calved and raised here. In 1953, determination were 50,000 radical [in Las Vegas], oregon truthful helium says. And erstwhile you spell from a mates 100 1000 radical to conscionable shy of 3 million, I deliberation water, power, jobs and infrastructure person to truly usher us. We person to thin into that anticipated growth, program for the aboriginal and truly instrumentality a pragmatic but strategical approach.
You worked successful backstage instrumentality earlier joining erstwhile Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s bureau successful 2017. What drew you to the nationalist sector? And what was that modulation similar for you?
I conscionable wanted to pivot to giving back. You perceive the words “servant” and “leader” thrown astir a lot, but I genuinely emotion this state. I americium similar the biggest Nevada instrumentality successful the world. So, erstwhile the accidental arose, it conscionable ended up being an unthinkable fit.
You past moved implicit to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development successful 2019, wherever you served nether 2 administrations until Gov. Lombardo named you enforcement manager of the Cannabis Compliance Board successful 2023. How did you attack stepping into an manufacture you hadn’t worked successful before?
Coming in, it was 2 things: keeping an unfastened enactment of connection and relying connected a batch of precise astute folks who were much knowledgeable than me. I met with everyone—from cardinal manufacture stakeholders and commercialized groups to each antithetic types of licensees similar labs, cultivators, producers and dispensaries. The biggest vantage that cannabis had was the passionateness of the radical successful the industry. It was astir listening to them and saying, hey, what tin we fix?
Gov. Lombardo appointed you to pb his Office of Energy successful precocious March. How is Nevada moving to flooded its vigor challenges?
The projected request is unprecedented. It exceeds immoderate expectations radical astir apt could person had a twelvemonth oregon adjacent 2 years ago. And it’s not a situation that’s unsocial to our state, but it is thing that we, NV Energy and the [Public Utilities Commission] volition person to enactment on. We person Greenlink coming online successful mid-2027, which volition surely help.
I person not had the accidental to dive into [data centers], but I deliberation the medication has taken a pragmatic attack to that. Let’s beryllium very, precise conscious of h2o and powerfulness usage and however they really acceptable onto the grid, but arsenic agelong arsenic they’re economically viable projects that marque sense, are cognizant of h2o and not expanding payer rates, past we’re each for pursuing them.
What are immoderate of Nevada’s different strengths and weaknesses erstwhile it comes to energy?
Solar is surely an accidental and thing that we’ve been capable to leverage, and we besides person a batch of companies present that person been connected the forefront of geothermal technology. Between those two, I deliberation Nevada has been truly bully astatine not conscionable gathering the market, but astatine gathering the moment—or astatine slightest putting successful the infrastructure and trying to.
The weaknesses are that we don’t person immoderate meaningful lipid oregon state production, truthful each our lipid and gases are imported. That’s surely a challenge, and it’s nary concealed that there’s immoderate volatility there. The politician issued an bid putting unneurotic the Fuel Resiliency Committee to fig it out, and we’re having different gathering [this month].
Speaking of renewables, Nevada has a mandate requiring NV Energy and different authorities inferior companies to get astatine slightest 50% of their energy from renewable vigor sources by 2030. How are we moving to conscionable that goal?
Nevada is connected a beardown way toward gathering its 2030 renewable vigor goal. NV Energy reported that 46.8% of the energy provided to customers successful 2024 came from renewable sources, good supra the existent Renewable Portfolio Standard request of 34% and nearing the state’s 50% target. The Governor’s Office of Energy remains committed to supporting renewable vigor improvement crossed Nevada. Bringing caller renewable projects online is captious to diversifying the state’s vigor mix, maintaining reliability, and gathering Nevada’s semipermanent vigor goals.
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