1. RENEWABLE ENERGY:
Fast-tracked solar project could speed Mojave Desert's demise
The Obama administration has adopted a fast-track permitting policy for renewable energy projects that will aid in the transition from carbon-based fossil fuels. But large-scale projects, such as solar arrays in the desert, come with their own environmental drawbacks, including the alteration of sensitive lands and destruction of wildlife habitat. Photo courtesy of the Energy Department.
The federal government's determination that a 400-megawatt solar thermal power plant will not cause significant harm to a pristine strip of the Mojave Desert is a victory for those who want to place dozens of solar arrays on federal land in Southern California.
But a closer look at a federal draft environmental impact statement released last week reveals that even with extensive mitigation, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System project would destroy rare plants and permanently alter prized views from the nearby Mojave National Preserve. It would also annually consume an estimated 32 million gallons of groundwater in a region where water is scarce.
Such findings concern environmentalists who are almost certain to challenge the project. They also add to mounting criticism that the Obama administration is rushing to permit utility-scale renewable energy projects without considering the projects' effects on pristine public lands and the rare plants and animals that inhabit them.
Moreover, one of the central strategies for mitigating the project's environmental damage -- the relocation of federally protected desert tortoises -- is projected to kill nearly one out of every five animals that are transported, according to the draft EIS document.
"It's a good project in the wrong location," one critic said. Go to story #1
