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Greenies want solar power and windmills, just not in their backyards.
...I don't know where the we can put it,"
--Governator Schwarzenegger
I am generally for environmental protection, but at some point there MUST be a trade off. This looks like something that would require such give.
Feinstein seeks block solar power from desert land
Kevin Freking, Associated Press Writer – Sat Mar 21, 7:21 am ET
WASHINGTON – California's Mojave Desert may 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 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
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090321/...t_preservation
Greenies want solar power and windmills, just not in their backyards.
Green on green violence brewing in California.
I don't know what I think, but I know all of Nevada and a lot of western Utah is just a storm of worthless land and diseased jackrabbits, so if they could adopt that land instead,.
As it is, I have few qualms about the Mojave, but considering it's a Natl. Monument, I'm more worried about the precedent involved with just stripping the land of it's status without a review process. There's greater implications there, affecting more than just solar power in California.
In fact, I don't even think Nevada should be a state anymore. I was disappointed by the admin's decision to shutter Yucca mtn. They should just turn Vegas into a state and turn the rest of Nevada into a multi-purpose anything goes dumping ground/wind turbine/solar plant for the rest of the nation. What a state.
you have to watch out for the hybrid powered driveby shootings involving eco-friendly bullets that are recycable.
I'm with you. It is important to recognize that "green energy" doesn't automatically equal "environmentally friendly". And I'm not sure we want to just automatically pave over our national parks and monuments with solar panels. That being said, the desert is a perfect place to put these things and when it comes to environmental reviews there's usually a way to tweak a plan to make things work.I don't know what I think, but I know all of Nevada and a lot of western Utah is just a storm of worthless land and diseased jackrabbits, so if they could adopt that land instead,
As it is, I have few qualms about the Mojave, but considering it's a Natl. Monument, I'm more worried about the precedent involved with just stripping the land of it's status without a review process. There's greater implications there, affecting more than just solar power in California.
And yes, the state of Nevada should be turned into one giant solar panel.
Those hybrid drivebys are especially dangerous because you can't even hear the car coming.
The hybrid driver would probably be hypermiling, so at least you could outrun him on foot.
Is that the only part of the Mojave suitable for this? I'm all for solar power, but those landowners donated the land specifically not to be developed. Sets a bad precedent for future donations.
Oh well. Solar power plants are stupid anyway.
I was wondering that too. My guess is that the developers are interested in that land because they think they can get a better deal from the government than from an adjacent private landowner.
What's that from? Weeds?
and it still wouldn't be enough to power the glamorousness of Elton John's one red piano Vegas show
What about solar concentrators using melted salts for thermal storage of energy?
That looks fairly promising, as it allows for 24 hour production of electricity from solar.
Solar, both photovoltaic and thermal, also is ideal for peak power generation.
The mojave desert isn't anybody's backyard.
I haven't heard much about em in the last little bit, but it is promising technology. I was going to say so, but I figured it would be lost on that dumbass cc anyways.
It's beginning to appear that Greenies simply don't want progress, or ANY expansion at all. "No" to pretty much everything.
I love being called a dumbass by pimply faced punks.
Do you guys realize just how aggressively corrosive molten salts are? Even stainless steel wouldn't work. It's one thing doing it in the lab theoretically and a whole other thing doing it in the real world...
I think there should be incentives for developers to put micro solar and wind projects on their new buildings. Think if all the condo owners and office lessees in downtown Austin were able to lower their power bills using some turbines that catch the updrafts near the roofs, for example.
Uh, I'm close to 26 act about 35 and I've never had a mohawk. You on the other hand probably inherited your daddy's ranch and cash and you think that makes you into some sort of an old school cowboy. So we each have our opinions, don't we?
As I understand, and I'm about as large a layman as ever, but I heard a long NPR story about a company making alloy reactors that potentially solve that issue. I don't remember what's in em, but they're promising.Do you guys realize just how aggressively corrosive molten salts are? Even stainless steel wouldn't work. It's one thing doing it in the lab theoretically and a whole other thing doing it in the real world...
Wrong on both counts and I just happen to make my living in the heat exchange field, pressure vessels, steam and hot water systems, etc. so I may have a little more working knowledge of exactly what is involved from a technical perspective than you do.
Oh well. Sour crude refineries are stupid anyway.
Do you guys realize just how aggressively corrosive hydrogen sulfide is? Even stainless steel wouldn't work. It's one thing doing it in the lab theoretically and a whole other thing doing it in the real world...
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