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  • Desert Solar Projects

    From the news today.....sounds like the solar facilities are being fast tracked! No mention of the loss of use of public land, just a nice story on how wonderful this will be.

    Green lights for big solar projects on fed lands One will install 28,360 collectors in Southern California desert

    After five years of negotiations and battles, some of them environmental, two large solar power projects on Tuesday got the first-ever green lights to set up shop on federal lands.
    "These projects are milestones in our focused effort to rapidly and responsibly capture renewable energy resources on public lands," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement announcing the approvals in desert areas of Southern California.

    One includes a square mile of solar panels near Victorville in inland Southern California, and the other covers about 10 square miles in the remote Imperial Valley, east of San Diego.

    The announcement comes about five years after solar developers began asking the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for rights to develop hundreds of solar plants on federally owned desert land across the Southwest.

    Expected to cost around $2 billion, the largest of the two projects will use 28,360 solar collectors known as SunCatchers to produce enough electricity to power more than 200,000 homes.

    The approvals give the project sponsors access to almost 6,800 acres of public lands for 30 years.
    Construction is expected to start on both by the end of the year, and Interior said the projects should generate almost 1,000 jobs.

    "There are 11 million acres of public lands in the California Desert, and a large majority of those lands are managed for conservation purposes," Salazar said. "These projects, while a significant commitment of public land, actually represent less than one-hundredth of one percent of that total area. Given the many benefits, the extensive mitigation measures, and the fair market value economic return, approval of these projects is clearly in the public interest."

    The two approvals are:
    • The Imperial Valley Solar Project, by Tessera Solar of Arizona and based in Imperial County, Calif., is expected to produce up to 709 megawatts from 28,360 solar dishes, enough to power at least 200,000 homes.
    • The Chevron Lucerne Valley Solar Project will use photovoltaic solar technology in San Bernardino County, Calif., and will produce up to 45 megawatts from 40,500 solar panels, enough to power at least 13,000 homes.

    Interior said both are part of a "fast track" process that provides significant funding via the federal stimulus program if construction begins by the end of 2010.

    "The Recovery Act’s payment for specified energy property in lieu of tax credit program makes Tessera and Chevron eligible for approximately $273 million and $31 million, respectively," Interior stated.
    Environmentalists weigh in Interior said California and federal agencies had "set up a joint compensation fund operated by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to ensure that impacts are mitigated."
    Some environmentalists criticized the projects, especially the larger one, because of potential impact on habitats for bighorn sheep and a rare lizard.

    "It's a classic example of a good project in the wrong place," Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, earlier told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "We clearly need to get on renewable energy and get off of fossil fuels ... but we don't have to destroy species."

    But the Natural Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife said they supported the projects because of advice they offered that had been incorporated into the projects.

    "During the federal and state reviews Tessera Solar moved the project out of sensitive desert washes, scaling it back to 709-megawatts, to reduce important impacts," NRDC attorney Johanna Wald said in a statement Tuesday. "Tessera Solar then sat down with NRDC and our conservation partners and agreed to develop the project in two distinct stages and other measures, all of which went above and beyond the requirements imposed by state and federal regulators."
    Tuesday's approvals came shortly after California regulators passed rules requiring utilities to derive a third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, the most aggressive standards in the U.S.
    The Bureau of Land Management opened federally owned lands in 2005 to solar development, but an examination of records and interviews of officials by The Associated Press showed the program operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it.
    Story: Wall St. firm behind slow solar pace on federal lands?

    To expedite environmental review and bureaucratic red tape, Interior identified 14 of the most promising solar projects among the more than 180 current permit applications.

    The newly approved permit for sites in California were the first in a series Salazar expected to issue before the end of the year. Final approval by 2011 qualifies projects for federal stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

    "When I became secretary of the interior .... dozens of permit applications had languished," Salazar said. "There was no process for transforming ideas on paper to projects on the ground."

    Currently, solar developers have proposed facilities that would produce more than 6,000 megawatts, enough to power 4 million homes for a day at peak usage. The projects are proposed for about 23 million acres of federally owned desert in the Southwest.

    Land use and renewable energy experts said the BLM's initial mismanagement created a solar "land rush" that spurred lawsuits by environmental groups concerned about endangered species and rare plants.
    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the state is on track to approve nine large solar plants by year's end.

    "Our great partnership is helping to improve public health, grow our green economy, promote energy independence and strengthen our national security," the governor said in a statement.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.
    Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

  • #2
    Take the good with the bad. I am sure we wont miss the little peice of land this project is going to take in the desert. Personally I welcome any infastructure project that will help get me working again and doing the land grading for this type of project is right up my alley. The desert is huge and dont see them putting solar panels on the hammers or bullfrog anytime soon. Clean energy is necessary for the future.

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    • #3
      Well Beau,
      You don't live out here, but I do. The Chveron Poject by itself isn't half bad, but it's one of hundreds of proposed projects that will be blights in Lucerne Valley because of all the power lines that cross through here. There's a cumlative effect. Not to mention all the proposed 450 ft tall wind generators.

      Why not put the wind generators in Rancho cucamonga and cover every roof down there with solar panels?? So I won't have to look at them.
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      • #4
        [COLOR="Sienna"]I don't really support the taking of more land for these projects, when we could be using the rooftops and other surfaces already taken from the land. Once that is done lets see where we're at on the energy crisis.
        Maybe you could get into solar panel sales??
        [/COLOR]
        [COLOR="darkred"]"Death Smiles at Everyone... Marines Smile Back."
        Adopt-a-Trail Member.[/COLOR]

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        • #5
          I'd be more than happy to let the Solar companeis put panels on my house. And even a wind generator in my yard. I'd rather have them here than in my play ground.
          [CENTER][COLOR=#ff0000]Resistance Off Road
          [/COLOR]Join the Resistance...
          http://www.resistanceoffroad.us[/CENTER]

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          • #6
            Actually a lot of people will miss that little piece of land. It is in the Stodard Valley OHV area and closes off parts of it to US. In fact if I remember correctly over half the proposed "Clean Energy" projects being discussed for Federal "Public" Lands will take away from the OHV community. One of the project locations discussed is in an area we(OHV) lost to the Environmentalists for an endangered species is now going to get bulldosed and heavy construction for "Clean Energy". This is why the -ologists are not happy either.

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            • #7
              I'd be more than happy to let the Solar companeis put panels on my house.
              I'll take one

              I would have done it years ago but it's so dang expensive.
              I'll keep my money, guns and freedom...you can keep the "Change".

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Roger View Post
                Well Beau,
                You don't live out here, but I do. The Chveron Poject by itself isn't half bad, but it's one of hundreds of proposed projects that will be blights in Lucerne Valley because of all the power lines that cross through here. There's a cumlative effect. Not to mention all the proposed 450 ft tall wind generators.

                Why not put the wind generators in Rancho cucamonga and cover every roof down there with solar panels?? So I won't have to look at them.
                Your right! I dont live there but I do play there once in a while. I would think 1 square mile out of thousands wouldn't that be a big of a deal. I would gladly trade your solar power plants and wind generators for the 2 near by malls and the 100's of thousands of apartments we have here in Rancho now. Traffic is a nightmare here now. Its like LA or OC now, over populated and over crowded. Which would you rather have? Anyway there is nothing that can be done about it now, its a done deal and accepting it and moving on is the right thing to do.

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                • #9
                  Here's a link to the Lucerne project:

                  http://www.doi.gov/news/pressrelease...e&PageID=54649

                  and the Imperial Valley project:

                  http://www.doi.gov/news/pressrelease...e&PageID=54655
                  Rich

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                  • #10
                    we moved out of Riverside to get away from the crowding, bad attitudes, elbow rubbing, traffic, 'infrastructure' and smog... now it's following us and of course the people that live in it now don't care. So we are outnumbered and will lose everytime
                    :gun: my rifle is not illegal, it's just undocumented... :gun:

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                    • #11
                      The BLM and another group are gathering and moving Desert Tortoises at the new Ivanpah Solar Project near Stateline. Thousands of acres lost there. Was such a cool mining and historical location. Slowly but surely we lose. And it is funny that we can't post a picture of a Desert Tortoise for fear of closing trails, but the BLM can relocate hundreds, most of which die, at tax payer expense. Hmmm....

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