Solar Power: Saving or ruining our wilderness?

Text by Alyson Sheppard

Last month, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed an order to set aside more than 1,000 square miles--670,000 acres--of Bureau of Land Management land to review as "Solar Energy Study Areas," part of the Department of Energy's solar power initiative. Stagnant since 2003, the initiative's goal is to allow construction of 1,000 megawatts of concentrated solar power systems in the southwest by 2010. Maps of the 24 tracks of public land under consideration for large-scale, commercial solar energy farms are now available online.

Salazar has vowed to push 13 “commercial-scale” solar projects into construction phase by the end of next year in six states: Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. In order for land to be considered, it must be near existing roads and transmission lines, have at least three square miles with solar exposure, and have suitable slopes for solar collection. According to the DOE, wilderness, high-conservation-value lands, and lands with conflicting uses were excluded in the selection process.

However, in March, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California pledged to fight the construction of solar plants on the study areas between the Mojave Desert preserve and the Joshua Tree National Park, citing environmental hazard. And the Nevada Wilderness Project has noted one of the Nevada study areas is in a bighorn sheep migration path. Read more about the energy plans in the Energy Bulletin here.

Is construction falling on some of your favorite wilderness? Let us know in the comment section below.

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have at least three square miles with solar exposure, and have suitable slopes for solar collection. According to the DOE, wilderness, high-conservation-value lands, and lands with conflicting uses were excluded in the selection process.

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Dianne Feinstein of California pledged to fight the construction of solar plants on the study areas between the Mojave Desert preserve and the Joshua Tree National Park.

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An alternative can be use solar panels with some precautions without disturbing or destroying wildlife of that area. But this would cost a lot.

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Solar power does not affect the environment, contrary to other power systems.
So by not affecting the environment it improves it, because all other alternatives have certain types of impact (green or not). After solar, wind power is probably the one with the least impact. Smaller hydroelectric can be made to have low impact but big projects usually have some sort of impact.

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Definitely saving! If everyone were to convert to using solar power, the world would be a cleaner and less expensive place. It is only a matter of time before natural resources are used up. So using a renewable form of energy is a wise idea.

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Solar Energy is the most easily available and free source of energy. It is the most important out of non-conventional sources of energy too, it is non polluting, available for all and convenient source therefore helps in lessening the greenhouse effect.

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After reading some of the comments, I would agree with the author of the 4.23.2010 comment. We should be able to get plenty of solar panel square footage by using the roof tops of residential, commercial and public buildings. If buildings were designed with solar panels in mind, I believe we would have more solar collecting area than land available.

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I'm glad that much more people are taking renewable energy much more seriously nowadays. I've generally been a large fan. I try to complete my little part and use renewable energy in my house. Sometimes I question if individuals will ever come around. We live in Arizona and use solar energy for the roof to heat our hot water, it operates great!

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I'm so glad there are other folks out there who see the importance of renewable energy! I've always been a fan and try to do my part as much as possible when it comes to renewable energy and saving the atmosphere. Let's hope much more men and women come around, soon! I live in California and we have panels up on the roof for solar power, operates excellent!

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Hope they reconsider what they are doing. Nice article..
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In the push to replace fossil fuels there are always unintended consequences. This article outlines how those consequences will play out.

Instead of looking to government land and disturbing wildlife and ecosystems, we could use government rooftops. I hope the government reconsiders this strategy. Sometimes the easiest solutions are to use what already exists.

If you are interested in learning how you can transition to solar energy or incorporate solar energy into your life, check out http://www.solar-energy-advantages-blog.com for a practical approach.

[Maxine Davis]

I own land in Panoche Valley, California home to the San Joaquin kit fox, Giant Kangaroo Rat, Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, to name a few of the wildlife that live in the valley. This unique grassland valley is under attack by Solargen Energy, Inc. This private company wants to buy out the local cattle ranchers and landowners to install 10,000 acres of solar panels which would cover the valley floor thus destroying this pristine wilderness & rural agriculture area.