Bernie Sanders speaks on Nevada issues

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are racing to get your vote at the Democratic caucus this Saturday. A recent CNN poll has them neck-and-neck in Nevada. Sanders spoke to KOLO 8 News via satellite about issues that matter to Nevadans.

Sanders is known as a crusader of the middle class, hoping to shift the value of Wall Street in his presidential campaign.

"We will take on the billionaire class and bring on change for the working families in this country," he said.

One way he plans on creating jobs for those working families is with renewable energy, a direction in which he says Nevada is going backwards.

"The idea that the Public Utilities Commission in Nevada would make it harder for people to move to solar, the idea that they would make a decision that resulted in laying off hundreds and hundreds of workers in solar workers, is to me basically insane."

On top of his mission to make America the leading country in renewable energy, resurrecting Yucca Mountain is not even an option in his presidency.

"We've got to phase out nuclear power in America. Everything I've read says Yucca Mountain is not a effective or safe depository for nuclear waste and i don't think we should re-look that."

Because more than 80 percent of Nevada's land is public, Sanders says there needs to be better cooperation from the federal and state governments along with local communities to make sure that land can be best utilized by all.

He believes federal lands all over this country belong to all of the people in the United States, including the illegal immigrants. Nevada has one of the largest proportions of undocumented immigrants in the country and he promises to not break up families but to unite them.

"I'm not into deportations, I'm into comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship for 11 million undocumented people in this country."

The Nevada Democratic caucus is this Saturday. Sanders says he will make several stops through Nevada starting in Las Vegas on Thursday and then heading up north to Elko on Friday for a public rally at Elko High School. That event starts at 10 a.m. Doors open at 8 a.m.

Sanders will then be at the Nugget Casino Resort on Friday for a rally in the Rose Ballroom; doors open at 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are encouraged

. Admission is first come, first served.