Palen Solar Power project moves forward; Imperial Solar Threatens Cultural Heritage
The California Energy Commission (CEC) provided preliminary approval for a solar power project that will consume almost 8 square miles of mostly public land near the Palen Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and that would disturb part of the designated Chuckwalla Critical Habitat Unit for the desert tortoise. The Palen Solar power project is being proposed by Chevron and a subsidiary it created, Solar Millennium LLC. The CEC is requesting that Solar Millennium LLC build a reconfigured layout and not the initial proposal in order to reduce (but not eliminate) impacts to Mojave Fringe Toed Lizard habitat. However, the project would also disrupt desert tortoise linkages since it would block multiple washes that allow them to travel under Interstate 10. If built, the project would probably slow genetic ties between the tortoise populations north and south of the Interstate. Defender's of Wildlife proposed that Solar Millennium and the CEC should reduce the project by h