VALLEY VOICE

Finalizing conservation and clean energy plan crucial to region's future

Frazier Haney
Special to The Desert Sun

Our California Desert has more open space and more sunshine than anywhere else on the continent.  Despite falling within a proverbial stone’s throw of 22 million southern Californians, our desert offers unparalleled opportunities for solitude, an amazing wildlife heritage, and fascinating cultural artifacts ranging from early human settlement to World War II.

Frazier Haney

Given our country’s resolve to lead the world on renewable energy development, it’s no wonder our state and federal leaders have looked to the desert’s open space to support solar and wind farms.  How much of our land, especially publicly owned land within the renowned California Desert Conservation Area, should be dedicated to energy production and no longer accessible to visitors or wildlife?

This question is critical to the future of our region, and after more than six years of studies and public meetings, state and federal leaders are poised to reach an answer with the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP).  The plan is a dramatic improvement over the “solar gold rush” that has threatened to devastate our region in recent years due to the scattershot approach we’ve seen with citing proposed projects.  Now, areas identified for development are more constrained to those places where conflicts with other public land values are minimized.

In recent weeks, some have argued that the DRECP will somehow hamper renewable energy because it does not provide enough public land for development or that too many restrictions remain on land that is provided. These arguments, made by some in the solar industry and recently echoed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors in the 11th hour threaten to pull apart the progress made in planning over the last six years.

Why utilities and environmentalists are teaming up against the solar industry

More than 600 square miles of public land within the California desert would be set aside for renewable energy under the DRECP.  That’s 25 percent more land than what was recently identified for fast-track solar development across all of the six southwestern states.  In fact, under a typical scenario of development, this figure is at least three times the actual acreage needed to support what the California Energy Commission now deems necessary to meet our climate change goals. Furthermore, the DRECP is already more than halfway towards its goals of 20,000 megawatts of installed generation with over 11,000 megawatts either built or permitted in the planning area.

Additionally, this phase of the DRECP does not include private lands, where previously disturbed lands make more sense for development than public lands that serve as wildlife habitat and publicly accessible open space.  Counties are now working on this second phase of DRECP individually and have already identified more than 300,000 acres of additional non-federal land for development.

These federal rules are supposed to help solar power. Critics say they would do the opposite.

Given this, it’s ironic that Riverside County would claim the DRECP would stymie renewable energy development when they themselves now have the opportunity to zone land under their jurisdiction for exactly this type of use in areas that are likely more appropriate.

The fact is that we need the DRECP, both for strengthening our commitment to solving the climate crisis as well as adding to our rich legacy of protected public lands.  This plan is a compromise after six years of negotiations and input – and that’s exactly why it strikes an acceptable balance.  The BLM should finalize the DRECP this summer so that we can all move forward with certainty regarding how our desert public lands will be managed.

Frazier Haney is the Conservation Director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust. He can be reached at frazier@mojavedesertlandtrust.org.