Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will soon introduce legislation to protect more than 600,000 acres of California desert currently being eyed for renewable energy development.

Given the state's aggressive renewable energy goal, the Bureau of Land Management is now reviewing 130 applications for solar and wild energy development on more than 1 million acres of public desert lands in California.

Many of the applications are for development in the eastern Mojave Desert on or near property previously owned by the Catellus Development Corp., a real estate subsidiary of the former Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroad that once controlled the lands.

Approximately 100,000 to 160,000 acres of desert lands in California would be needed to meet the state's 33 percent renewable energy goal by 2020, according to an estimate by the California Energy Commission, and large swaths of former Catellus lands are included in the state's draft Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative proposal.

But in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar earlier this month, Feinstein asked that BLM suspend consideration of the applications so she and the agency could work together on her legislation while identifying other lands for renewable energy development.

"It is important the Department of the Interior act as soon as possible to rectify the situation before more time, effort and money is wasted by government agencies and private industry pursuing projects on these lands that will never come to fruition," she said in the letter.

The upcoming legislation would protect lands wedged between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve, including nearly 100,000 acres of National Park Service lands and 210,000 acres spread across 20 wilderness areas controlled by BLM. The measure would designate the so-called Catellus lands in California's Mojave Desert as a national monument.

Most of the lands were acquired by the federal government over the last 10 years as part of what Feinstein described as "one of the largest land acquisition donations to the United States in history."

The government and private conservation groups spent more than $50 million to buy the former railroad lands that feature habitat for bighorn sheep and desert tortoises, sand dunes, extinct volcanoes, ancient petroglyphs and expansive mountain ranges.

"The private parties contributed this large sum of money in the belief that this land will be protected and conserved," she said in a statement. "Building huge solar facilities on these lands is untenable and unacceptable."

Feinstein added that while the monument designation would block future development, it would not preclude existing activities like hunting, hiking and camping.

Interior spokesman Frank Quimby said BLM is reviewing the issue but has not suspended consideration of the renewable energy applications.

Click here to read the letter.