Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** BLM to hold solar lease sale in Southern Colorado despite transmission concerns
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Friday, March 24, 2023
Solar farm in Colorado, pxhere ([link removed])
The Bureau of Land Management plans to conduct ([link removed]) a competitive lease sale inside the De Tilla Gulch Solar Energy Zone, a 1064-acre landscape in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. The lease sale, scheduled to take place in late April, will be the second time solar rights in the San Luis Valley have been auctioned in Colorado, the first occurring almost a decade ago ([link removed]) and drawing no bids.
At 7,000 feet of elevation and over 300 days of sunshine per year, the San Luis Valley is considered to have some of the best solar potential in the country, but inadequate transmission capacity could inhibit the solar farm from providing power to municipalities. According to Mike Kruger, president and CEO of Denver-based Colorado Solar & Storage Association, the San Luis Valley is “completely isolated and walled off from the rest of the country,” making it difficult to transmit power from the zone to market.
There are 19 total solar energy zones (SEZs) across the West, most of which were designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2012 as part of its Western Solar Plan to drive large-scale solar development to six Western states—where solar resources are high. Only a handful of the 19 zones have been leased, and the De Tilla Gulch would be the first SEZ lease sale in Colorado.
President Joe Biden has made renewable energy development a top priority—last year, he set a goal ([link removed].) of approving 25,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects on federal lands by 2050. The De Tilla Gulch, the smallest of the 19 SEZs, is estimated ([link removed]) to produce around 95-170 megawatts.
Quick hits
** BLM to auction Colorado solar tracts amid transmission concerns
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E&E News ([link removed])
** What will the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on a Navajo Nation water rights case mean for other Tribes?
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Renewable energy company threatens to sue Biden over endangered toad
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
** Forest Service and partners create more opportunities for women in fire
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U.S. Department of Agriculture ([link removed])
** Nation's largest dam removal underway in Pacific Northwest
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E&E News ([link removed])
** How the BLM and the Access Fund encourage climber stewardship during raptor nesting season
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Moab Sun News ([link removed])
** In Montana, it’s youth vs. the state in a landmark climate case
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New York Times ([link removed])
** Water contamination in Oregon could cause EPA to step in
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Associated Press ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Whenever man tries to control nature, man loses and nature is damaged.”
—Mervin Wright, executive director of Pyramid Lake Fisheries, Nevada Current ([link removed])
Picture this
** @Interior ([link removed])
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Rain-soaked after a storm, Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area glistens a vibrant red, earning its namesake. Located just outside of Las Vegas, the area offers visitors unique sandstone escarpments, thickets of Joshua trees and the beloved desert tortoise.
Photo by Cheryl Hobbs
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