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The Bureau of Land Management has released a final draft of its Western Solar Plan, which will streamline solar development on 31 million acres of public land across 11 Western states.
The update builds upon a 2012 plan that highlighted key areas for solar projects in the Southwest, expanding that plan to include Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. The plan seeks to drive solar development closer to transmission lines and previously disturbed lands and away from protected lands, sensitive cultural resources, and important wildlife habitat.
“The updated Western Solar Plan will help build modern, resilient energy infrastructure that creates a strong clean energy economy and protects our communities from the worsening impacts of climate change,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Dr. Steve Feldgus.
The final proposed maps from the BLM for each state in the Western Solar Plan can be found on the project's planning page. The BLM is accepting feedback on the plan for 30 days.
How nuts is Utah's land grab lawsuit?
In the latest episode of CWP's podcast, the Landscape, Kate and Aaron discuss Utah’s attempt to sue the federal government for control of over 18 million acres of federal public land with John Leshy, Professor Emeritus, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.
Leshy, who served as Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior throughout the Clinton administration, discusses the underpinnings of Utah’s legal argument and explains why it’s likely to fail in court, if the U.S. Supreme Court even takes it up, which he says is also unlikely.
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Thankfully, our nation’s public lands offer some of the best solar energy resources we’ve got... The BLM’s final Western Solar Plan harnesses this clean and abundant resource responsibly, focuses projects away from ecologically and culturally sensitive places, honors community input, and realizes the imperative that our public lands must be part of the climate solution.”
