Public Encouraged to Comment on Stateline Solar Project

The Department of Interior initiated the environmental review process for First Solar's 3.4 square-mile Stateline solar power project, which would further jeopardize rare plant and wildlife in the beleaguered Ivanpah Valley.  The public is encouraged to attend a meeting on 31 August (details below) or contact the BLM with concerns (POC: Mr. Jeff Childers, jchilders@blm.gov).

Public Meeting to discuss Stateline Solar power project:
Where: Primm Valley Golf Club
1 Yates Well Road
Nipton, CA 92364
When: 31 August, 6-9 pm
POC: Jeff Childers, jchilders@blm.gov
More info: BLM press release, click here.

Some issues of concern to consider:
  • The Ivanpah Valley's habitat supports a robust and healthy desert tortoise population, which is special since the desert tortoise is in decline throughout its range.
  • The Stateline project will put additional stress on a tortoise population already displaced and jeopardized by the construction of BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS).
  • The Ivanpah Valley hosts a number of rare plant species that cannot simply be relocated and are only found in a few other places in the desert.
  • The area provides foraging habitat for Golden Eagles and Bighorn Sheep.
  • First Solar is also proposing to build the 2nd phase of the Silver State Solar power project, also in the Ivanpah Valley.  Silver State would destroy nearly 10 square-miles of desert tortoise habitat.
  • Both the Stateline and Silver State projects would constrain wildlife movement in the area. 
    The Google Earth map above shows the footprints of three solar power projects proposed for the Ivanpah Valley.  The ISEGS project (5.6 square-miles, already under construction), the Stateline project (3.4 square-miles, proposed), and the Silver State Solar power project (approx 10 square-miles, second phase proposed).  The cumulative impacts of all three projects on such pristine wildlands would be immense.

    Comments

    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