TONOPAH — The first icy storm of the season left a dusting of snow here Wednesday morning. As the gray shroud lifted with the sunrise, the timeworn exteriors of this quintessential Nevada town almost sparkled in the light as it peeked through parting clouds.

Such postcard moments notwithstanding, it’s not easy being Tonopah these days. With its population hovering at fewer than 2,000, for most Nevadans Tonopah remains a place on U.S. Route 95 to pause for fuel, a bite to eat or a night’s sleep on the way to somewhere else. Although other once-prosperous burgs are in the running for the distinction in the Silver State, three years ago Tonopah was slapped with the insult of being “Nevada’s poorest town.”

After this sun-blinded and windswept state found itself in the center of the national push for renewable energy, though, Tonopah’s luck appeared to be changing. The construction of a massive solar power complex west of town appeared to hold great promise. Now it sputters along, generating more promises of brighter days than actual gigawatts. Amid rapidly evolving technology and a dramatic shift in energy politics by the Trump administration, its prospects remain dim.

The same might be said for the enormous Esmeralda 7 Solar Project. It made headlines recently after it appeared to have been canceled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Fast-tracked by the Biden administration, it’s being reworked by the BLM, according to a recent statement, to enable a piecemeal development approach.

If completed as promoted, seven solar farms would generate a combined 6.2 gigawatts of power, enough to light 1.6 million homes. Judging from recent events, and the pushback from a variety of interest groups, it’s a long way from leaving the drawing board.

Tonopah has seen better days, but it doesn’t lack for those who see its potential — and the prospects of a mining boom to rival the silver strike in 1900 that drew pick-handle fortune-seekers and some infamous stock boosters. In fact, the town’s historic proximity to vast mineralogy has rarely lacked for promoters.

Tonopah was squired and hyped throughout the 20th century. It played its part in Nevada mining lore and the nation’s war effort. Locals take pardonable pride in the town being too tough to fail.

I thought of that as I sipped a beer in the Mizpah Hotel bar, where Fox News vied with the Vegas Golden Knights game for the attention of patrons. Geologists talked about the potential of the area given the voracious appetite for the minerals needed to create the latest technological advances. The lithium essential to modern batteries is only one example.

They bantered and handicapped the possibilities of future investments in a land seemingly forever on the verge of the next big strike, whether it’s gold, silver or something else on the periodic table. In the most mineralized state in the country, you can be assured that those seeking to “make their pile” in mining know where to start looking for it.

Their appreciation for Nevada’s special place in the mining world reminded me of a conversation I had in 2022 with Andrew Woods, director of UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research. He bottom-lined it this way: “The demand for energy storage between electric cars, homes and commercial is only going to grow exponentially. The demand for batteries is forecasted to grow five times in the next eight years. Climate change is no longer a question of mitigation, but of human survival.”

An asterisk is appropriate here. Our conversation took place back when the American president believed in climate change. He offered a full-throated endorsement of a bold and costly renewable energy policy, one that coincidentally was also an economic driver in rural Nevada. Science-driven climate policy has been labeled a hoax by the current occupant of the White House.

Given all the mixed signals from Washington, it’s impossible to know what will become of central Nevada’s advantage in solar energy creation and lithium mining production. The Esmeralda 7 project, for example, could be a genuine game-changer if those with opposing interests and views find a pathway to compromise and consensus.

Few people appreciate Tonopah as much as longtime Nye County community leader Joni Eastley. “I absolutely love frontier Nevada,” she says. “I wouldn’t live any other place.”

The former county commissioner and current Tonopah Town Board member readily acknowledges the challenges of its location on U.S. Route 95 midway between Las Vegas and Reno, but playfully spins it into a line fit for the chamber of commerce.

“Please come to Tonopah,” she says with a laugh. “Our location is equally inconvenient for everyone.”

Now that’s an endorsement.

Eastley also knows that what happens elsewhere in central Nevada, in neighboring Esmeralda County for instance, has a direct impact on Tonopah and Nye County. With limited housing, infrastructure and services, “The socioeconomic impacts are going to be felt by the town of Tonopah, but the financial largesse will go to another county,” she says.

Eastley believes a more regional approach is needed before future development moves forward. That includes the possible solar energy mega-development and other public lands decisions made by the BLM.

With the potential for prosperity once again just beyond the horizon, Tonopah deserves that respect. And it can certainly use the break.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Reader’s Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.