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Saving Ivanpah

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The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 2011 recommended that no further large-scale development be permitted in the Ivanpah Valley, warning that destroying more desert habitat in the area could sever or impair a critical linkage between desert tortoise populations, according to its Biological Opinion .  According to the FWS: If development in the Ivanpah Valley severed population connectivity, it would essentially isolate the Eldorado Valley population from the rest of the recovery unit. We recommend that the Bureau amend the necessary land use plans to prohibit large- scale development (e.g., solar energy facilities, wind development, etc.) within all remaining portions of the Ivanpah Valley to reduce fragmentation within the critical linkage between the Ivanpah Critical Habitat Unit and the El Dorado Critical Habitat Unit. This recommendation was issued after the Department of Interior approved two large solar projects (ISEGS and Silver State North) and a high-speed rail line for

Beyond the Reid Gardner Coal Plant

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Leaving Las Vegas is easy when you love the Mojave.  Once you escape the maze of billboards, glitzy hotels, and miles of stucco-clad houses, you'll cross some wide open desert that will liberate you from an otherwise hurried existence.  As the city guzzles water and cranks up massive air conditioners, the desert's incredible array of life -- tortoises, kit foxes, jackrabbits, owls, hawks, eagles, Creosote,  Mojave yucca, blackbrush, white bursage, and countless wildflower species -- have endured the test of time. You have to appreciate the small stuff in the desert.  The signs of life that betray the ignorant notion that this place is a wasteland.  Narrow pathways well worn into the desert ground by rodents scurrying to and from shrubs and burrows.  A wren's nest deep within the spiny arms of a cholla cactus.  A loggerhead shrike perched on a Mojave yucca that may not be much taller than a human but probably more than 300 years old.  All of these forming an intricate web

Center for American Progress Endorses Destruction of Public Lands; Wilderness Society Distributes Piece in Social Media

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The Wilderness Society appears to support the destruction of public lands, as long as the diesel-guzzling bulldozers are clearing the way for a shiny new solar or wind energy facility.   That is the bottom line of a blog piece written by the Center for American Progress writers Jessica Goad and Joe Romm--and posted by the Wilderness Society on its facebook and twitter accounts--in which Center for American Progress also suggests that Americans do not cherish their desert open spaces. The Wilderness Society's willingness to disseminate the blog piece without raising concerns for the content suggest they find merit in the article. The Center for American Progress is protesting an article by the Los Angeles Times that sheds light on the destruction of the Ivanpah Valley by BrightSource Energy for its 5.6 square mile solar facility.  The LA Times also draws attention to a land rush by solar developers proposing to destroy hundreds of square miles of desert wildlands throughout A

Pressure Mounts on First Solar Projects as Ivanpah Recognized As Crucial Tortoise Habitat

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More conservation groups have expressed support for preserving desert wildlands in the Ivanpah Valley, an early warning signal that First Solar should back away from their ill-sited solar projects there.   Located in the northeastern Mojave Desert and spanning the California/Nevada border, the Ivanpah Valley hosts a robust population of desert tortoises and provides a critical wildlife corridor for this species whose population has declined nearly 90% since the 1980s.  Biological surveys and US Fish and Wildlife Service findings increasingly indicate that First Solar is proposing to build in one of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the Mojave Desert, and threatens a level of damage that it cannot buy its way out of with "mitigation" as it did with its other projects. In this photo by Basin and Range Watch , a cluster of Mojave yuccas grow in the Ivanpah Valley where First Solar is proposing to build its massive Silver State South solar power project. Basin and Ran

Kit Foxes Die After Solar Developer Evicts Them From Dens

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NextEra Energy began construction last year on the 2.8 square mile Genesis Solar power project in California's Chuckwalla Valley.  The desert habitat was home to kit foxes, a mostly nocturnal animal that feeds on insects and small reptiles. According to the California Energy Commission (CEC), 65 active and inactive kit fox burrow complexes were found on the project site. This image was captured by a camera trap monitoring a kit fox den on the site of the Genesis Solar power project. Image from the CEC's Monthly Compliance Report for the Genesis Solar power project. Since construction began, at least seven kit foxes have died of distemper, a canine virus that is spread through bodily fluids, including urine.  The virus is not known to be a prevalent problem for wild kit foxes, and the death of the animals on the project site came as a surprise to wildlife officials.  In an article written by Chris Clarke on KCET , he investigates the possibility that the foxes were infected

Citizens Urge Interior to Stop Solar Chaos

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Conservation groups and concerned citizens submitted comments last week on the Department of Interior's proposed policy to guide the siting of utility-scale solar on public lands.  Although the policy represents an improvement from an earlier draft,  the common denominator among the comments was that the proposed policy is still too weak to prevent industrial solar development from inflicting irreparable harm on our desert ecosystems.   In the meantime, we continue to face a status quo where the solar industry has unfettered access to bulldoze some of the most treasured public lands in America's southwestern states, ignoring a more efficient alternative of installing solar panels in our cities. In the video above, a contractor for BrightSource Solar destroys desert vegetation, including a cluster of Yucca that are probably 400-800 years old. Interior's Supplement to the Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement attempts to encourage industrial solar developmen

State of the Union

The President spoke of our public lands only in the context of industrial energy exploitation in his State of the Union speech.  I truly hope he realizes that these lands are cherished for their beauty, solitude, and peace.  "From sea to shining sea" was not inspired by the sight of transmission lines, natural gas fracking, oil rigs, and massive bird and bat-killing wind turbines.  "God's cathedrals" -- our natural wonders -- cannot be taken for granted.  And clean energy is not about jobs, it is about our health, and living in harmony with nature without destroying it. We can meet our energy demands with increased energy efficiency and clean energy at the point of use -- such as rooftop solar.  We cannot afford to sacrifice more wildlands to energy exploitation when we are being handed this opportunity to change.

Solar Company Targets Proposed Desert Monument for Industrial Development

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BrightSource Energy is considering another solar thermal facility in the Mojave Desert that, if approved, would fall within or immediately adjacent to the boundaries of the proposed Mojave Trails National Monument.  The Monument was introduced in the California Desert Protection Act of 2011, and endorsed by the Obama Administration as lands deserving protection.  The project would be built on ecologically important desert habitat within view of the iconic Amboy Crater and Historic Route 66, and impact lands conserved and donated to the Department of Interior by the Wildlands Conservancy. The area of BrightSource Energy's proposed solar project.  The right-of-way application includes lands within and immediately adjacent to the proposed Mojave Trails National Monument. According to an interview with the Press-Enterprise , BrightSource Energy has already entered into talks with a utility company that would buy the electricity if the project is built.  The Bureau of Land Manage