Feinstein Works Hard to Stop Solar Energy

Written by CA Political News on March 22, 2009, 10:42 AM

Feinstein tries to halt solar projects on donated land



By DAVID DANELSKI, The Press-Enterprise, 3/21/09 

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is urging the U.S. Department of Interior to stop processing applications for more than a dozen solar energy projects sought on Mojave Desert land that was donated to the government by a conservation group.

Feinstein, D-Calif., is preparing legislation to protect about 600,000 acres of former railroad company land deeded to the federal government. The deal was funded with $40 million raised by the Oak Glen-based Wildlands Conservancy and $18 million from a federal water and conservation fund.

In a March 3 letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, Feinstein said not all land is suitable for energy development.

"Unfortunately, many of the sites now being considered for (energy) leases are completely inappropriate and will lead to the wholesale destruction of some of the most pristine areas in the desert," Feinstein's letter said.

The "clear intent" of the land deal was to preserve those properties in perpetuity, she wrote. But the U.S. Bureau of Land Management "now considers theses areas open for all types of use except mining. This is unacceptable!"

Her letter has been referred to the BLM, which is processing about 165 applications for wind and solar projects on public land between the Sierra Nevada range and Mexico. The letter remains under review, said Joan Moody, a Washington-based spokeswoman for Salazar.

Steve Razo, spokesman for the BLM's California desert district, said local agency officials have yet to get direction from Washington on what action should be taken, if any, in response to Feinstein's concerns.

The BLM is processing about 15 applications for solar projects that would cover about 24,000 acres of the donated land, destroying prime habitat, said David Myers, the Wildlands Conservancy's executive director.

Myers and Feinstein both said they support solar and wind energy development but stress that it doesn't have go on pristine habitat between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve.

One of the projects is a 500-megawatt solar array that would be erected on 5,130 acres northwest of Ludlow. The site is between the Kelso Dunes Wilderness area and the Cady Mountains, identified by the federal government as a potential wilderness area.

"This one would be devastating," Myers said, because it would divide the two protected areas.

The applicant is BrightSource Energy, which has offices in Oakland. Company spokesman Keely Wachs said Feinstein's letter hasn't changed BrightSource's intentions.

"Until there is something formal, there is not much we can say," he said.

Myers this week provided several documents indicating that the donated land was intended for preservation. One was a May 10, 2000, letter he received from then-President Bill Clinton.

"I assure you my administration will work to protect and manage the donated lands," Clinton wrote. "Please convey my appreciation to the Conservancy's Board of Directors, staff, donors, and supporters for this historic donation and your work to acquire additional lands for permanent protection."

Plenty of other land that has been damaged by farming and other uses can be used for renewable energy projects, include swaths of property along Interstate 15 between Victorville and Barstow, Myers said.