Bureau of Land Management
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U.S. Unfreezes New Solar Energy Projects
DENVER — Under increasing public pressure over its decision to temporarily halt all new solar development on public land, the Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday that it was lifting the freeze, barely a month after it was put into effect.
The bureau had announced on May 29 that it was no longer processing new applications to build solar power plants on land it oversees in six Western states after federal officials said they needed first to study the environmental effects of solar energy, a process that would take two years.
But amid concerns from the solar power industry, members of Congress and the general public that the freeze would stymie solar development during a particularly critical time for energy policy, the bureau abruptly reconsidered.
“We heard the concerns expressed during the scoping period about waiting to consider new applications, and we are taking action,” the bureau’s director, James Caswell, said in a statement. “By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections.”
In the meantime, the bureau will continue with its plans to conduct a sweeping study on the environmental impacts of large-scale solar development on public land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, said a spokeswoman, Celia Boddington.
source http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/us/03solar.html?pagew...
i meant to post it as a link.
my bad, first post DENVER — Under increasing public pressure over its decision to temporarily halt all new solar development on public land, the Bureau o... more -
US BLM Announces Environmental Analysis Of Solar Energy Development
More news about how you can influence government policy on sustainable solar energy development from our friend Bill Brown up in Taos, New Mexico at www.nmglobalwarming.org
"Hello, All -- In addition to the recent agreement between the Western Governor's Association and the U.S. Department of Energy regarding clean energy development and transmission, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management enters the picture as managing agency of vast tracts of our American Western landscape.
Today's press release below says, "During work on the PEIS [programmatic Environmental Impact Statement], the BLM will focus attention on the 125 applications already received for rights-of-way for solar energy development, while deferring new applications until after completion of the PEIS. The 125 existing applications are for land covering almost one million acres and with the potential to generate 70 billion watts of electricity, or enough to power 20 million average American homes."
BLM public scoping meetings will be held around the Western USA -- in 8 western cities listed near the end of the press release -- from June 16 through June 26, 2008, and written comments are due by July 7, 2008.
See http://solareis.anl.gov/ for more information.
Note that concentrated solar power (solar thermal) installations -- wherein reflectors heat liquid to run turbines -- can require significant amounts of cooling water (as much water as coal-fired or nuclear power plants require per megawatt of energy produced) whereas solar photovoltaic power installations require virtually no water."
-- Bill Brown
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
" More news about how you can influence government policy on sustainable solar energy development from our friend Bill Brown up in Taos,... more -
In Colorado, an unlikely alliance between hunters and environmentalists against dr...
The Roan Plateau in Colorado has become the subject of disputed real estate, much of it public land that the Federal government's Bureau of Land Management is selling to energy companies interested in drilling for oil and gas in the mountainous region. John McDaniel writes, in his contribution to the Christian Science Monitor (14 May 2008), that the B.L.M. have offered to open up 73,000 acres -- or 70-percent -- of the Roan Plateau Planning Area for oil and gas drilling, a decision initiated late last year.
Deer and elk hunters who have pursued game in the Roan Plateau area between the Colorado Rockies to the Utah border, have aligned with environmentalists to voice expression against the B.L.M.'s plan to sell once-protected areas of the Roan Plateau for energy development. The Roan Plateau in Colorado has become the subject of disputed real estate, much of it public land that the Federal government's... more
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