Sep 20, 2024 09:56 PM
https://www.salon.com/2024/09/19/plans-t...entalists/
EXCERPT: . . . In theory, BLM's proposal will help the environment by bringing the United States closer to President Joe Biden's goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035. Yet scientists told Salon this project may come with a serious environmental toll of its own.
"It covers a very significant amount of area," Naomi Fraga, director of conservation at the California Botanic Garden and research assistant professor of botany at Claremont Graduate University, told Salon. "It makes available to solar areas that are ecologically sensitive, areas that include sensitive species. It stands to significantly impact and alter ecosystems across the Great Basin and Mojave Desert."
Unlike other extractive use of public lands, constructive solar energy panels "causes significant harm to the environment," Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Salon.
"These projects are enormous in size — a single project is typically 3,000 acres," Donnelly said. "And much of that land will be graded flat for the panels. So you can expect large-scale land transformation as a result."
Donnelly warns that pristine habitats will be bulldozed, native wildlife will be displaced, groundwater will be consumed and contaminated. The air will be filled with dust while patterns for hydrology and drainage will be altered, perhaps with unanticipated consequences.
"It stands to significantly impact and alter ecosystems across the Great Basin and Mojave Desert. These effects are well documented at existing solar projects including Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating Station, the original big solar project in the desert, but also many others," Donnelly told Salon.
Brian Hires, the press secretary and spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management pushed back against these criticisms.
"The BLM has working with diverse state, federal, local and industry partners to permit responsible clean energy going back to the 1970s," Hires said. "In every case, we undertake National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews to carefully evaluate the proposed project and the potential impacts and work with others to mitigate those impacts. The purpose of the BLM's proposed Western Solar Plan updates is to guide solar development applications to areas where they would encounter fewer resource conflicts."
[...] just because these environmentalists are highlighting the negative impacts of solar power doesn't mean they are against it in principle. Like many things, it all comes down to location.
"There are millions of acres of public land across the West that have been degraded due to human use and would be ideal for solar energy development," Donnelly said. "We are not opposed to solar energy on public lands – in fact we support it! And we support building that solar on lands which are already degraded and are of negligible use to wildlife." (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: . . . In theory, BLM's proposal will help the environment by bringing the United States closer to President Joe Biden's goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035. Yet scientists told Salon this project may come with a serious environmental toll of its own.
"It covers a very significant amount of area," Naomi Fraga, director of conservation at the California Botanic Garden and research assistant professor of botany at Claremont Graduate University, told Salon. "It makes available to solar areas that are ecologically sensitive, areas that include sensitive species. It stands to significantly impact and alter ecosystems across the Great Basin and Mojave Desert."
Unlike other extractive use of public lands, constructive solar energy panels "causes significant harm to the environment," Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Salon.
"These projects are enormous in size — a single project is typically 3,000 acres," Donnelly said. "And much of that land will be graded flat for the panels. So you can expect large-scale land transformation as a result."
Donnelly warns that pristine habitats will be bulldozed, native wildlife will be displaced, groundwater will be consumed and contaminated. The air will be filled with dust while patterns for hydrology and drainage will be altered, perhaps with unanticipated consequences.
"It stands to significantly impact and alter ecosystems across the Great Basin and Mojave Desert. These effects are well documented at existing solar projects including Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating Station, the original big solar project in the desert, but also many others," Donnelly told Salon.
Brian Hires, the press secretary and spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management pushed back against these criticisms.
"The BLM has working with diverse state, federal, local and industry partners to permit responsible clean energy going back to the 1970s," Hires said. "In every case, we undertake National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews to carefully evaluate the proposed project and the potential impacts and work with others to mitigate those impacts. The purpose of the BLM's proposed Western Solar Plan updates is to guide solar development applications to areas where they would encounter fewer resource conflicts."
[...] just because these environmentalists are highlighting the negative impacts of solar power doesn't mean they are against it in principle. Like many things, it all comes down to location.
"There are millions of acres of public land across the West that have been degraded due to human use and would be ideal for solar energy development," Donnelly said. "We are not opposed to solar energy on public lands – in fact we support it! And we support building that solar on lands which are already degraded and are of negligible use to wildlife." (MORE - missing details)