SUN, LAND, WATER, HABITAT

Solar Plan Ignites Some Environmental Concerns
Jeff Brady, September 28, 2009 (National Public Radio)

"An Obama administration plan to build huge new solar energy plants in the Southwest is causing heartburn in the environmental community.

"The Interior Department has proposed allowing two dozen solar energy study areas on public land in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. These would be industrial facilities that would require huge amounts of land and water to operate…[C]onservation groups generally support the president's campaign for more renewable forms of energy, [but] some local groups are concerned about putting industrial-scale solar projects on public land."

There are several major types of solar power plant technology...(click to enlarge)

"In the Southwest, the U.S. government is the largest landowner by far — in Nevada, it owns 85 percent of the state. The Southwest also is one of the best regions in the world for producing energy from the sun…But Terry Weiner of the Desert Protective Council in San Diego opposes [building solar power plants in unpopulated deserts]…

"She says she understands the climate change arguments for getting more of the country's energy from renewable sources. But she says these projects could displace endangered species, such as the desert tortoise…Around the Southwest, local groups like the Desert Protective Council have similar concerns. But national environmental groups have a slightly different point of view."

...and they will have different impacts on water, land and habitat. (click to enlarge)

"…Alex Daue, renewable energy coordinator for the Wilderness Society…says his group also is concerned about losing the benefits of recreation and habitat for plants and animals. But…climate change [will] have a significant affect on public lands and endangered species, too…The Wilderness Society has pushed the Interior Department to choose properties that already are degraded in some way by past industrial activity or farming…And they've encouraged the department to select parcels that are close to existing transmission lines so new ones won't have to be built…[Both the Wilderrness Society and] the solar energy industry [argue] that rooftop panels alone aren't enough to supply the country's energy needs…

"…Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association…says that to replace existing coal-powered energy facilities, the country will need industrial-scale solar-powered ones in addition to things like rooftop solar panels…[He] is frustrated by criticism from within the environmental community, because his industry wants only 670,000 acres of public land…[The oil and gas industry uses over 44.5 million acres of public land]…[A]fter the government evaluates the environmental effects of the solar facilities, the number of acres dedicated to them could grow substantially. And that's what really worries local environmental groups…"