Ridgecrest Solar Power Project Cancelled

Update: Solar Millennium LLC has since revived its proposal to destroy 6 square miles of public land, as of 24 March 2011.

Ending a stubborn and costly effort to destroy public lands in the name of profit, Solar Millennium finally canceled its proposal to build the Ridgecrest Solar power project in the Western Mojave Desert.   The company planned to bulldoze over 6 square miles of desert, but the California Energy Commission (CEC) staff warned the company about its intention not to approve the project.  The site is located on a Mohave Ground Squirrel connectivity corridor that links different populations of the animal, which the US Fish and Wildlife Service may list under the Endangered Species Act.  The site also hosts at least 40 endangered desert tortoises, and local residents expressed concerns about the project's overdraft of scarce groundwater resources.

The CEC's review of the Ridgecrest Solar power project was put on hold in July 2010 after the CEC initially expressed concern.  Solar Millennium then embarked on a plan to study Mohave Ground Squirrel linkages in the area, probably hoping to find a site configuration that would alleviate concerns and allow it to build the project.  However, the CEC expressed continued concern with Solar Millennium's choice of the site, since any industrial development in the area would have significant impacts on the ecological health of an area that inter-agency planning efforts identified as a high priority for conservation.

A photo from the CEC Staff analysis document showing the proposed site of the Ridgecrest solar power project.
A graphic representation of what the site would look like with the solar project.  Screenshot from the CEC staff assessment .
In 2009, Solar Millennium applied to use the site--which is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management--and hoped to receive taxpayer-backed financing or grants to cover development costs.   After an environmental impact review, the CEC staff concluded that the Ridgecrest Solar Power project would incur damages to the Mojave Desert that could not be recovered or compensated through mitigation.

Solar Millennium is also developing two other massive solar facilities in California's desert that received approval from the CEC -- the Blythe Solar and Palen Solar power projects, which will damage over 22 square miles of desert habitat and cultural sites.  The Department of the Interior's approval of the Blythe Solar power project was challenged in a lawsuit filed in late December.

Comments

  1. MorongobillJanuary 25, 2011 at 7:18 PM

    Absolutely fantastic news Shaun!

    Thanks for this and the right on analysis.

    By the way, Senor Tortuga, formerly hailing from Ivanpah, called me to tell me to check out your article.

    He called from an undisclosed location, citing concerns that BrightSource biologists were hot on his trail.

    First rate article as usual!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Plants Species in the Desert?

Would you expect that California's desert hosts gives the redwood forest a run for its money when it comes to plant biodiversity?  It's easy to take the desert for granted when all you want to do is zoom through it on the highway and get to your destination. But you are passing by an amazing and biologically diverse ecosystem.  There are at least 2,450 native plant species found in California's desert, according to a great article by Chris Clarke on desert life , posted at KCET. If you want to learn more about our amazing deserts, join Desert Biodiversity, a new organization dedicated to exploring, respecting and defending the deserts.
Read more

Mowing Vegetation as Mitigation: Trump Administration Practice Goes Unchallenged

Image
The Trump administration is again touting the practice of mowing thousands of acres of desert vegetation as environmentally-responsible, despite a preponderance of evidence to the contrary.  The draft environmental review of the Yellow Pine Solar project in southern Nevada claims that vegetation mowing - as opposed to bulldozing - will yield positive outcomes that are highly doubtful.   This positive framing of the construction practice misleads the public and decisionmakers and ignores decades of scientific research regarding the impacts of mechanized disturbance on desert wildlands.  According to the draft environmental review: "Mowing is becoming the standard on large site-type ROWs to prevent permanent impairment of public lands (as mandated by FLPMA) and in lieu of off-site mitigation... Mowing methods are designed to help preserve soils, biological soil crusts, soil seed banks, native perennial vegetation diversity and structure, and cacti and yucca species, and t...
Read more

Unlikely Allies: Trump Administration Joins Enviros to Plan Solar Project on Prime Tortoise Habitat

Image
The Trump Administration this month released an assessment that concludes that a solar developer can crush and mow vegetation across several square miles of prime desert tortoise habitat, and still consider those lands as viable habitat for the species.  The silence of some national-level environmental groups regarding the unconventional and unscientific conclusion appears to signal their comfort taking risks with a species already facing significant peril, as well as these groups' inability to champion more sustainable locations to generate clean energy in Nevada. The biological opinion released by the Trump Administration constitutes the official position of the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the impacts of the proposed Gemini Solar project; its curious willingness to declare heavily disturbed lands as viable tortoise habitat was necessary for the project's approval because the project would be built on lands that have been identified as a vital habitat linkage sustai...
Read more