Ivanpah Solar Site Approved

According to the just-released Presiding Member's Proposed Decision, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved the construction and operation of BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Eastern Mojave Desert.  With the release of the decision begins a 30-day comment period.  The decision appears to uphold many of the proposed conditions of certification, to include mitigation measures that require the company to fund conservation land elsewhere in the Mojave Desert, and avoid impacts on special status plants.  As noted previously on this blog, such mitigation measures are not always successful, and we can expect the loss of desert tortoise and other desert species'.  This blog will take a closer look at the proposed decision--and its impacts on the Mojave--for a future posting.

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