Solar Executives Ask for More Taxpayer Land and Money As Protesters Gather
Protesters gathered this week outside the offices of Oakland-based BrightSource Energy, which is building the 5.6 square mile Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System on public land and using nearly 1.6 billion dollars in taxpayer-backed financing. The project is now expected to kill hundreds of adult and juvenile tortoises, according to a revised biological assessment by the Department of Interior, which has temporarily halted the project until the US Fish and Wildlife Service makes a determination on how the project should proceed. The protesters outside of BrightSource's corporate offices drew attention to rooftop solar , a much wiser alternative to destructive utility-scale projects that enables homeowners and businesses to invest in their own property and cut utility bills. S olar energy industry executives, however, are more interested in receiving handouts from Washington for their destructive projects in the desert, and are planning to request even more ...