Most people recognize that our current relationship with fossil fuels is untenable. The more we burn them, the faster we cook our planet, turning the climate hotter and "weirder," triggering disastrous and deadly extreme weather, withering crops and undermining infrastructure.
Renewable energy (and arguably nuclear power as well) is presented by scientists and environmentalists as our ticket out of this mess. So an ambitious new proposal from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that aims to overhaul our renewable energy sector would presumably be seen as welcome news. According to a report BLM released in late August, the government is proposing to make 31 million acres across 11 western states available for solar energy development. It would also streamline the permitting process, making it easier for energy companies to quickly build solar.
But instead, a large number of environmentalist groups are upset with the plan, claiming that it will utterly destroy fragile desert ecosystems in the process.
In theory, BLM's proposal will help the environment by bringing the United States closer to President Joe Biden's goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035. Yet scientists told Salon this project may come with a serious environmental toll of its own.
"It covers a very significant amount of area," Naomi Fraga, director of conservation at the California Botanic Garden and research assistant professor of botany at Claremont Graduate University, told Salon. "It makes available to solar areas that are ecologically sensitive, areas that include sensitive species. It stands to significantly impact and alter ecosystems across the Great Basin and Mojave Desert."
"These projects are enormous in size — a single project is typically 3,000 acres," Donnelly said. "And much of that land will be graded flat for the panels. So you can expect large-scale land transformation as a result."
Donnelly warns that pristine habitats will be bulldozed, native wildlife will be displaced, groundwater will be consumed and contaminated. The air will be filled with dust while patterns for hydrology and drainage will be altered, perhaps with unanticipated consequences.
"These effects are well documented at existing solar projects including Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating Station, the original big solar project in the desert, but also many others," Donnelly told Salon.
Brian Hires, the press secretary and spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management pushed back against these criticisms.
"The BLM has working with diverse state, federal, local and industry partners to permit responsible clean energy going back to the 1970s," Hires said. "In every case, we undertake National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews to carefully evaluate the proposed project and the potential impacts and work with others to mitigate those impacts. The purpose of the BLM's proposed Western Solar Plan updates is to guide solar development applications to areas where they would encounter fewer resource conflicts."
Hires added that the BLM's proposed plan would exclude development "in areas with a high likelihood of resource conflict, including with sensitive wildlife or cultural resources," only apply to solar projects "that are 5 megawatts or larger and connect to the grid" and ensure project requirements to avoid, minimize and compensate for adverse impacts.
"Based on our extensive work permitting responsible solar, we know we can strike this balance," Hires said. "We continue to improve how we are permitting clean energy, based on advances in solar deployment technologies and new information. For example, rather than clearing lands for solar projects, companies are now maintaining native vegetation and ground cover. The BLM's updated Western Solar Plan also proposes to improve protections for imperiled species."
Fraga specifically pointed to the plight of the endangered desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) that some experts believe will soon be extinct because of development in the southwest, including solar panel construction. This problem has a long history, dating back to President Barack Obama's first term.
"Once you grade the desert floor you cannot restore it," John Moody, who is on the board of directors of Desert Survivors, a desert advocacy organization, told Salon in 2009. "In the Mojave Desert, you can still see the old Spanish mule paths from the 1700s. The time cycle for the desert is very slow. It doesn't heal very quickly."
The recently permitted Yellow Pine Solar Project in Pahrump Valley, Nevada destroyed the habitat for almost 150 desert tortoises, according to Donnelly.
"The tortoise is a federally protected threatened species that is the icon of the Mojave Desert. These tortoises were translocated elsewhere," Donnelly said. "Studies show that translocation is ineffective and results in a loss in genetic diversity and often direct mortality. Over 30 of the translocated tortoises were later found to have been eaten by badgers. So the solar project was a death sentence for those 150 tortoises. The project also introduced disturbance to a very pristine region."
As far as Donnelly is concerned, these deaths are not just tragic; they are unnecessary. But just because these environmentalists are highlighting the negative impacts of solar power doesn't mean they are against it in principle. Like many things, it all comes down to location.
"There are millions of acres of public land across the West that have been degraded due to human use and would be ideal for solar energy development," Donnelly said. "We are not opposed to solar energy on public lands – in fact we support it! And we support building that solar on lands which are already degraded and are of negligible use to wildlife."
For example, Donnelly highlighted solar panel construction in regions of northern Nevada where the invasive grass cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) has become too widespread. "We call them 'cheatgrass monocultures.' In these areas, native vegetation, which is the food wildlife eats, have been decimated by fire and invasive species, so wildlife are no longer using these areas. They are also not useful for humans – for instance, cattle cannot graze there. These are ideal places for placing solar projects, and there are millions of acres available."
Although climate change is a growing existential threat, the ways to lower emissions can be done more strategically, experts argue. Some have argued the best place to place solar panels is rooftops or above parking lots, which avoids killing delicate desert plants like Joshua trees.
"We strongly support rooftop solar as an alternative to big solar in the desert," Donnelly said. "And we have programs pursuing aggressive rooftop solar policies across the country. That said, some amount of large-scale solar is already being permitted and built, with a lot more coming. While I would prefer all solar is built on rooftops, the reality is we need to plan for what is coming to our deserts. That’s why we don’t oppose the Western Solar Plan in concept, we just disapprove of the particulars in the decisions they reached. We believe they could do a lot better."
"We are at an inflection point," Fraga said. "This is a very critical time where we do need to advance our renewable energy goals, but we need to do that in a very smart way that is inclusive of nature and, and doesn't degrade whole ecosystems."
