Feinstein: Keep solar/wind energy facilities out of Mojave Desert

[peejay 327]

Senator Diane Feinstein: Keep energy facilities out of Mojave Desert

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

March 21, 2009, 8:21AM

WASHINGTON — California’s Mojave Desert might seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy.

Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public.

Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.

The Wildlands Conservancy orchestrated the government’s purchase of the land between 1999-2004. It negotiated a discount sale from the real estate arm of the former Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroad and then contributed $40 million to help pay for the purchase. David Myers, the conservancy’s executive director, said the solar projects would do great harm to the region’s desert tortoise population.

“It would destroy the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem,” said David Myers, executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy.

Feinstein said the lands in question were donated or purchased with the intent that they would be protected forever. But the Bureau of Land Management considers the land now open to all types of development, except mining. That policy led the state to consider large swaths of the land for future renewable energy production.

“This is unacceptable,” Feinstein said in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “I urge you to direct the BLM to suspend any further consideration of leases to develop former railroad lands for renewable energy or for any other purpose.”

In a speech last year, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger complained about environmental concerns slowing down the approval of solar plants in California.

“If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it,” Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.

But Karen Douglas, chairman of the California Energy Commission, said Feinstein’s proposal could be a “win-win” for energy and conservation. The governor’s office said Douglas was speaking on the administration’s behalf.

“The opportunity we see in the Feinstein bill is to jump-start our own efforts to find the best sites for development and to come up with a broader conservation plan that mitigates the impact of the development,” Douglas said.

Douglas said that if the national monument lines were drawn without consideration of renewable energy then a conflict was likely, but it’s early enough in the planning process that she’s confident the state will be able to get more solar and wind projects up and running without hurting the environment.

“We think we can do both,” Douglas said. “We think this is an opportunity to accelerate both.”

Greg Miller of the Bureau of Land Management said there are 14 solar energy and five wind energy projects that have submitted applications seeking to develop on what’s referred to as the former Catellus lands. None of the projects are close to being approved, he said.

The land lies in the southeast corner of California, between the existing Mojave National Preserve on the north and Joshua Tree National Park on the south.

“They all have to go through a rigorous environmental analysis now,” Miller said. “It will be at best close to two years out before we get some of these grants approved.”

Feinstein’s spokesman, Gil Duran, said the senator looks forward to working with the governor and the Interior Department on the issue.

“There’s plenty of room in America’s deserts for the bold expansion of renewable energy projects,” Duran said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/6327213.html

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

California likes it's energy but doesn't want to produce it. They'll be in the stone age before you know it.

[Niels Bohr 72]

LOL.

I think this opening up solar/wind energy facilities would probably be good for California considering it $42 billion dollar budget crunch.

[dalegg 143]

California likes it's energy but doesn't want to produce it. They'll be in the stone age before you know it.

We like gambling and prostitution too, but we don't want it inside our borders. California's Solar energy, gambling, and prostitution-that's what Nevada is for.

[Scott & Lai 12]

LOL.

I think this opening up solar/wind energy facilities would probably be good for California considering it $42 billion dollar budget crunch.

You clearly don't work for the California government; you're thinking far too logically

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

“If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it,” Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.

Save the earth, kill an environmentalist.

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

“If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it,” Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.

Save the earth, kill an environmentalist.

[Heracles 417]

California likes it's energy but doesn't want to produce it. They'll be in the stone age before you know it.

So true. BHP tried to build a gas transfer station like 20 miles offshore yet the environmentalist (mentalist being the key word) kicked and screamed about it. Natural Gas is virtually pollution free. Can't exactly have a oil spill either

Another issue is they want solar power (green energy) but won't give the permits, to build the power lines, to access the power.

California is what happens when you have actors rather than intelligent people calling the shots in a state. Where they use their star power to get their way at the expense of everyone else.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Constellation

[Saddle Bronc 124]

California likes it's energy but doesn't want to produce it. They'll be in the stone age before you know it.

So true. BHP tried to build a gas transfer station like 20 miles offshore yet the environmentalist (mentalist being the key word) kicked and screamed about it. Natural Gas is virtually pollution free. Can't exactly have a oil spill either

Another issue is they want solar power (green energy) but won't give the permits, to build the power lines, to access the power.

California is what happens when you have actors rather than intelligent people calling the shots in a state. Where they use their star power to get their way at the expense of everyone else.

Of course, Taxachussets has something very similar--that of a rich, perennial political family calling shots (remember "Senator Cirrhosis" making much fuss that wind-farms near Hyannisport would block his view?)

[Scott & Lai 12]

California likes it's energy but doesn't want to produce it. They'll be in the stone age before you know it.

So true. BHP tried to build a gas transfer station like 20 miles offshore yet the environmentalist (mentalist being the key word) kicked and screamed about it. Natural Gas is virtually pollution free. Can't exactly have a oil spill either

Another issue is they want solar power (green energy) but won't give the permits, to build the power lines, to access the power.

California is what happens when you have actors rather than intelligent people calling the shots in a state. Where they use their star power to get their way at the expense of everyone else.

The idiocy in the California gov. began long before Ahnold came into office, and will continue long after he leaves...unless the voters decide enough is enough and fire the whole lot of them.

[Peikko 1,575]

Why do you all hate the desert tortoise?

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

Why do you all hate the desert tortoise?

because it's slow crossing the road!

[almaty 19]

desert tortoise, FTW! ....

[NickD 203]

Why do you all hate the desert tortoise?

Actually watching a three bladed propeller turning 200 feet above the ground would give them something to look at for entertainment.

[almaty 19]

what about the desert birds/