Mojave Desert Blog

It's an odd situation when the Sierra Club provides unconditional support to an industry that describes wildlife and conservation goals as "obstacles," lobbies to weaken the environmental laws we have fought hard to institute and enforce, and enjoys comfortable access to a White House promoting an "all of the above" energy policy that is taking its toll on our climate and our public lands.  In a blog post titled "Americans Agree With President Obama: Wind Is the Way," Sierra Club Director of Clean Energy Dave Hamilton calls for the renewal of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) that has driven the wind industry's expansion onto wildlands in recent years,  yet the wind industry simultaneously ignores the Club's conservation concerns and dismisses guidance from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to avoid impacts on protected and endangered bats and birds. The wind industry is not as toxic as coal, but it has about as much regard for conse

Apparently the renewable energy industry did not realize that when you bulldoze dozens of square miles of intact desert habitat, you remove the topsoil that keeps down wind-born dust.  First Solar's Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 (AVSR 1) project is currently delayed due to dust issues and an electrical permitting issue, according to Greentech Media .  First Solar also apparently violated air quality standards near Joshua Tree National Park when the construction for its Desert Sunlight project kicked up clouds of dust. Separately, Pattern Energy appears to be in violation of the rules as its construction crews generate a significant amount of dust for a wind energy project, according to Basin and Range Watch .   Dust clouds caused by construction may not seem like a significant problem to some, but the haze is a quality of life issue for the local communities in the desert, and with hundreds of square miles of planned solar and wind projects in the desert, the problem is likely to

To update you on yesterday's post, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) passed the proposal to nearly double the number of rooftop solar installations that can benefit from net metering, where utility companies fairly credit the customers for solar energy they generate for themselves.  Like I wrote yesterday, this is just the start. CPUC voted to pass a measure that keeps rooftop solar viable for another year or so. But we have not yet begun to understand the benefits and efficiencies of ditching our old energy model.  Rooftop solar means fewer transmission lines, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and giving pristine wildlands to future generations, not energy companies.  I am looking forward to the next CPUC vote to expand rooftop solar.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is expected to vote tomorrow (24 May) on a proposal to essentially increase the number of utility customers who can benefit from net metering, where the utility credits the customer for the full retail value of energy their panels produce.  If the proposal is passed, the number of net metered solar installations would nearly double.  The Sierra Club has been a vocal proponent of the proposal, and over 60,000 residents spoke up in favor.  Rooftop solar panels happily basking in the sun, generating energy without requiring the destruction of wildlands. As a recent Huffington Post piece mentioned, rooftop solar is not a tool for the rich and famous. The majority of rooftop solar installations have been in zip codes with median incomes.  Rooftop solar also generates local jobs, and reduces the need for toxic "peaker plants" which fire up to generate energy during peak demand hours and pollute our air. If the proposal pa

A Federal judge yesterday denied a petition by the Quechan tribe to halt construction of a destructive wind energy project in the Colorado Desert just south of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California.  The nearly 16 square mile project is expected to destroy cultural sites of significance to the tribe, fragment and destroy habitat, and kill bats, raptors and other birds with 112 turbines, each towering over 400 feet tall.  The project will feed energy customers over 60 miles away in San Diego, where conservationists argue rooftop solar can be installed instead of relying on the remote wind project.  San Diego has already reached over 4,500 rooftop solar installations, and California has installed over 1,000 megawatts of rooftop solar  --  over 3 times the amount that will be generated by the massive Ocotillo Express wind project. And that's just the beginning of California's distributed generation potential.   Hopefully our clean energy future will focus more on

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is carrying out an aggressive effort to undermine wildlife protections that it views as an obstacle to its expansion onto wildlands, according to an AWEA strategy document from late 2011.   AWEA's strategy outlines plans to facilitate the industrialization of public lands by allowing "industry to proactively set and guide the siting agenda" by co-opting environmental groups, government agencies, and a wildlife research institute, according to the document. As of May, the wind industry had proposed over 249 square miles of projects across Arizona, California and Nevada.  In those same states, the industry was exploring additional projects on over 1,121 square miles, according to the BLM's land records database . Meeting just 20% of the United States' energy needs with wind energy will require 20,000 square miles, according to a Department of Energy report . A heap of dead Joshua Trees cut down to make way for t

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended its deadline to receive public comments on an emissions reduction proposal for the Reid Gardner coal power plant in Nevada.  Comments are now due by June 4 .  You can read my previous blog post on how to submit comments, or read the Federal Register notice (which still contains the older public comments deadline).  The bottom line is that older coal power plants like Reid Gardner are responsible for the vast majority of toxic emissions from the energy sector, including 64% of Nitrogen Oxides emissions (the primary emission that the EPA seeks to control with its proposed determination), according to a Government Accountability Office report. If the EPA is going to give older fossil fuel facilities a free pass, then we will not see a significant difference in the impacts we're seeking to address.  This means continued health problems for nearby communities, particularly the town of Moapa and the Moapa band of Paiutes, which