Greens put $860,000 into Nevada Senate race ad campaign

A major environmental group is launching a new $860,000 advertising campaign in Nevada to paint GOP Senate candidate Joe Heck as a threat to the state’s clean power industry.

The ad, released Tuesday by the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, says Nevada’s solar, wind and geothermal industries employ more than 25,000 people, and all of those jobs are at risk from Heck’s friendliness with the oil industry.

{mosads}The campaign puts the total investment from the League of Conservation Voters and its affiliated Victory Fund at more than $3 million in the Nevada Senate race.

“Joe Heck’s taken hundreds of thousands in big oil money, and voted their way, protecting billions in tax breaks for big oil, threatening Nevada’s solar economy,” the ad’s voiceover says.

“Twenty-five thousand jobs at risk, because Joe Heck’s in big oil’s pocket.”

Heck, who currently represents Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, is running against Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Harry Reid.

The ad is trying to tap into the large size and power of solar, wind and geothermal energy in Nevada. It ranks No. 1 nationally in geothermal energy production and No. 3 in solar, according to the Energy Information administration.

Polling in recent weeks have shown the candidates within one or two percentage points of each other. Suffolk University’s poll last month had them tied.