Can We Transition to Renewable Energy Without Destroying More Desert?
Earlier this week I wrote about the renewable energy industry's complaints that desert conservation was slowing the deployment of utility-scale solar and wind projects. The newspaper article that gave these industry complaints a soapbox described renewable energy development on public lands as "slowed to a crawl." New projects proposals may have slowed down for economic reasons that were buried in the article, but public and private lands in our deserts have been significantly transformed over the past few years. One of three Ivanpah Solar power towers glares in the distance, while construction on the Stateline Solar project can be seen beyond that. Mojave yucca and creosote bush-studded terrain is replaced with several square miles of utility-scale energy projects. Industry lobbyists want us to assume that we cannot reach our goal of 100% renewable energy without destroying intact desert wildlands. Over the past few years we learned why this cannot be allowed