Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Renewable energy hits local headwinds
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Tuesday, July 9, 2024
The Minidoka National Historic Site near Jerome, Idaho. Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])
Proposals to create thousands of megawatts of wind and solar capacity across the West are running into local opposition. The recurring theme: We need renewable energy—but not like this.
In Idaho, survivors and descendants of Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated at the Minidoka War Relocation Center during World War II organized a letter ([link removed]) asking President Joe Biden to stop the proposed Lava Ridge wind project. The Bureau of Land Management's final environmental impact statement for the project reduced the size of the project by nearly half, to just over 100,000 acres of public land, and concentrated the turbines to corridors at least 9 miles away from Minidoka. E&E News reports ([link removed]) that the coalition's letter asks President Biden for at least 20 miles of separation.
"We, in the Japanese American community, and our allies, feel our history is being devalued and our trauma is being dismissed by the government recognizing the impact of the project, yet continuing to proceed," the letter says ([link removed]) .
Conflicts over proposed industrial-scale renewable development have also emerged in Nevada, where conservation groups warn that a 2,800 acre project would harm sage-grouse populations ([link removed]) . In Colorado, a proposal to put a solar array on 640 acres of state land outside of Telluride ran into community opposition ([link removed]) that united "Old West" ranchers and "New West" residents, according to the Colorado Sun.
Adrienne Dorsey with the nonprofit COSSA Institute, which works with solar developers, said the Colorado developers ([link removed]) "thought that they were doing their due diligence, contacting county authorities … inadvertently they didn’t engage the community.” The institute encourages early communications between developers and communities to address conflicts before they emerge.
How an Instagram "joke" turned into an outdoor LGBTQ community
In the latest episode ([link removed]) of CWP's podcast, The Landscape ([link removed]) , Aaron and Kate talk to Dr. Hitesh Tolani, creator of the Gays of National Parks Instagram account ([link removed]) , which is aimed at fostering community among LGBTQ people through a love of the outdoors. Tolani began the account as a joke in 2022, but it has since grown into a community with over 15,000 followers. Tolani talks about how the group is fostering connection both online and in person, as well as why representation in the outdoors and park leadership matters. Listen now ([link removed]) or subscribe on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) .
** Quick hits
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Corner-crossing case likely headed to Supreme Court, hunters' attorney says
WyoFile ([link removed])
Dangerous heat baking parts of national park system
National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
Bipartisan carbon bill splits GOP, oil industry
E&E News ([link removed])
Feds consider new air pollution crackdown on Colorado oil refinery
CPR News ([link removed])
BLM proposes protecting a quarter of public wild areas in southeastern Oregon
OPB News ([link removed])
ConocoPhillips cites new Supreme Court rulings in lawsuit over Alaska environmental protections
Anchorage Daily News ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
In Arizona, a relocated gas plant raises questions over who profits and who pays
Arizona Republic ([link removed])
Black-owned Colorado excursion company aims to make the outdoors more inclusive
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Quotes of the day
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” We support thoughtfully sited clean energy, but this is the wrong project in the wrong place.”
—Patrick Donnelly, Center for Biological Diversity ([link removed])
” We do need solar power and there may come a day when we run out of options and we need to put it here and we have to get used to looking at solar panels, but this should be the last place to put them, not the first.”
—Art Goodtimes, former San Miguel County (Colorado) Commissioner ([link removed])
” We support renewable energy, and your policies say you will protect Japanese American history and heritage, but the FEIS says otherwise.”
—Sign-on letter opposing the Lava Ridge wind project ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@usfws ([link removed])
Teamwork makes the dream work!
Harris hawks in the desert Southwest hunt in packs, unlike other raptors. This strategy means they can find more well-hidden prey and also take down larger prey.
Photo: courtesy of Wayne Williams
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