Much of the desert Southwest that holds great promise for large scale solar installations is owned by the Federal Government, and managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
The BLM has received over 130 applications to lease government land for solar installations, and has now decided that any future applications will first have to wait for the results of an environmental impact statement of large scale solar plants on the environment.
Hat tip to gristmill.
According to the statement from the BLM over 125 applications from solar power companies to lease a million acres of government land could potentially provide enough electricity to power 20 million homes. While the BLM will continue to make decisions on these applications, any new applications must first await the results of a programmatic environmental impact statement. This process according to the NYTis expected to take approximately two years.
A quote from the times article
"It doesn’t make any sense," said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. "The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry."
This decision brings up several conflicts for me. I consider myself an environmentalist, and as such, I have no strong desire to see wilderness of any kind, be it desert or forest, further industrialized. 1 million acres is 1500 square miles, not a small piece of land.
With that said I think we may have passed the point where we can be picky about carbon neutral ways of generating electricity. It seems wherever one looks, there is a NIMBY attitude towards renewable energy, be it Cape Wind or tidal power in England. Will these projects have an environmental impact? Certainly. These impacts need to be balanced against the costs of doing nothing, which are sure to be much much higher.
The BLM is accepting public comments in writing until July 15th and is holding public meetings (details at the original BLM link)
* Riverside, California: Monday, June 16, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Barstow, California: Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Las Vegas, Nevada: Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Sacramento, California: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Denver, Colorado: Monday, June 23, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Phoenix, Arizona: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Salt Lake City, Utah: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Albuquerque, New Mexico: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 6:00 pm
* Tucson, Arizona: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 6:00pm