We can take meaningful action on climate or give handouts to billionaires, but not both
May 31, 2025 | 2:17 pm ET
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(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
While Nevada’s elected leaders have expressed a commitment to addressing the climate crisis, a new proposal under consideration raises questions about our state’s priorities. The proposed expansion of Nevada’s film tax credit program, which would direct hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies to Hollywood studios, risks sidelining urgent environmental and climate needs. At a time when bold action is needed to protect our communities and natural resources, this approach feels out of step.
It’s abundantly clear that Nevada is in a climate emergency. Wildfires are burning hotter and longer, filling our summers with smokey skies. Land managers warn this summer could bring catastrophic wildfires. The Great Basin is drying, and Lake Mead is sitting at thirty percent full. Communities from Las Vegas to Reno are enduring extreme heat, toxic air, and prolonged drought, and hundreds to thousands of Nevadans are dying each year as a result. We have proposed projects to protect our public lands, prevent extinction, and invest in sustainable transit, but we’re told there’s “no money.”
The proposal would allocate $95 million in annual transferable film tax credits for 15 years beginning in 2028, expanding our already-existing tax giveaways. The proposal will kick into place in 2028, and yet we have no way to know what our fiscal situation will be at that point in time. Just think of the roller coaster ride the 2020’s have been so far, and the looming federal budget that could have sweeping impacts to Nevada’s fiscal viability. Meanwhile, extreme heat is only getting worse, the Colorado River and Lake Mead are only getting drier, and our special places are only becoming more threatened.
Our organization has spent years fighting for clean air protections, better public transportation, rooftop solar access, and the preservation of special landscapes like Red Rock National Conservation Area and Lake Tahoe. We’re constantly met with budgetary constraints, told to be patient, to compromise. And yet the same state that balks at funding protections for pollinators and soil health is ready to roll out a red carpet for corporate film giants.
Supporters of the film credit expansion claim it will bring jobs and economic growth, but as the independent economists at Applied Economics reported, the state would have a negative return on investment. States across the country have learned the hard way that film subsidies rarely pay off. Meanwhile, climate investments create durable jobs, foster resilience, and protect our future. Where are the investments for fighting wildfires, restoring wetlands, or public transportation?
If Nevada has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend, let’s spend it on the people and places that make this state worth living in, and ensure it will be livable in the next several decades, not on fleeting glitz and glamour. Let’s fund the transition to a clean energy economy, build transit-to-trails networks, restore our watersheds, and protect the wild lands that make Nevada extraordinary.
We have shelled out enough for corporations working against our interests. Why do we give tax handouts to the Boring Tunnel instead of funding mass transit? Why do water intensive data centers get huge tax breaks when we can’t get funding for water conservation? Why did we give millions of dollars to build the A’s stadium in the Las Vegas core when we can’t get funding for urban forestry and mitigating urban heat?
This proposed tax credit isn’t just a bad policy. It’s a missed opportunity to lead. Nevada should act in the best interests of those who live here, instead of enacting Hollywood handouts.
Las Vegas, NV