What’s going on with public lands and solar energy? From reading the newspaper, you’d think it was all project-by-project decisions, but a far bigger story is brewing, one with huge implications for the future of both solar energy and our public lands.
For over 75 years The Wilderness Society has sought out protections for public lands across the country. Our efforts have kept threats, including irresponsible energy development, from harming the places we all hold dear. Now our team faces a new challenge—finding places that are suitable for renewable energy development. This has proven to be a tough path, but we understand a key element in the fight against global climate change is how we produce and conserve energy.
It’s great that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been focusing a lot of attention on solar and wind development on public lands, even to the point that the DOI’s web site is sporting images of wind turbines and solar panels. This attention to renewable energy is very welcome to those of us who work closely with government agencies to protect wild places from the impacts of drilling and climate change, but there are a couple critical pieces of the renewable energy puzzle that we need to make sure the Interior Department and its Bureau of Land Management focus on.
One of the great challenges facing our nation today is our transition to clean, green renewable energy and away from dirty fossil fuels. In California, we are seeing promising signs of this progress with two solar projects approved today by the federal government.
An AP investigation at the beginning of September found that speculation—the assumption of business risk in hopes of making profits—in applications for solar development on public lands is rampant, and has greatly contributed to the BLM’s inability to get solar projects built. In fact, the investigation found that a Goldman Sachs subsidiary has submitted applications for half of the land in Nevada for which applications have b
There aren’t many times that a car commercial makes you reach for the tissue box. Most feature professional drivers on closed courses, speeding through turns at speeds that look both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
Recently a group of conservationists, wind developers, Native American tribes, and state environmental officials sent a list of recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior on how best to avoid and minimize wind energy impacts on wildlife habitats. Now that new bills are emerging in Congress that address solar and wind generation on public lands, these recommendations can help sha
Recently a group of conservationists, wind developers, Native American tribes, and state environmental officials sent a list of recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior on how best to avoid and minimize wind energy impacts on wildlife habitats. Now that new bills are emerging in Congress that address solar and wind generation on public lands, these recommendations can help sha
I don’t often turn to stand-up comics for insight on matters of national energy policy, but since all other attempts to stop the oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico have failed, it probably wouldn’t hurt. I ran across a quote from Robin Williams the other day: “What is right is what’s left when you’ve done everything else wrong.” When it comes to developing the abundant wind and solar resources on America’s public lands, we need to take stock of how poorly we’ve done with other forms of energy.
