Renewable Energy vs. Conservation Efforts

More than 500,000 acres of land in the Mojave Desert are currently the target of extensive bidding on the part of renewable energy companies, which want to construct either solar power plants or wind farms here. However, their plans may be upset by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who said last Friday that the respective land had been donated by people to the state to be preserved as a wildland. She also added that she planned to file a bill that would essentially transform the entire region into a national monument, which would mean that no development on it would ever be possible.

Despite the fact that both groups involved in the conflict are trying to do the right thing, as in to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel, and save endangered tortoise and other animal populations, respectively, none of them seems willing to drop their claims on the land. Renewable industry representatives say that the half a million acres are a sound investment for solar- and wind-based electricity production, and argue that numerous facilities could fit in this space.

On the other hand, conservationists uphold that the creatures that live in the region should not be sacrificed for energy production. In addition, when they donated the terrain to the authorities, they specified that it should be used for conservation and not for other types of development. “It would destroy the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem,” David Myers, who is the executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy, the group that has orchestrated the buying procedures for all the land, explains.

“This is unacceptable. I urge you to direct the BLM [Bureau of Land Management] to suspend any further consideration of leases to develop former railroad lands for renewable energy or for any other purpose,” Senator Feinstein adds in a letter to the Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar. The BLM currently considers the land open to any type of exploitation except mining, despite the fact that it was sold specifically under the condition that it be preserved for wildlife.