Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects

[babylonsister]

Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects
Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun, via Reuters

Mirrors channel sunlight onto a tube filled with oil at a solar power plant in Boulder City, Nev. The plant produces energy to power about 14,000 homes.


By DAN FROSCH
Published: June 27, 2008

DENVER — Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. “The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/us/27solar.html?em&ex=1214712000&en=96ea5e98a35597da&ei=5087%0A

[Deja Q]

1. I thought those running government like to say government shouldn't get involved...

So why are they getting involved?

[texanshatingbush]

3. 'Cause they want their Publican corporatocracy buddies to reap all the benefits....

....not some small entrepreneurial start-up company, which is likely populated by progressives!

[Vincardog]

2. In the mean time they will log, drill, pollute, build dams and walls environment be damned

Is it hypocrisy yet?

[tinrobot]

4. I guess they need to drill for oil first.

[Zachstar]

5. This is slightly good news.

Yes its going to deal almost a death blow to solar thermal. But now there is a HUGE chance here for thin film solar and cheap wind designs to start getting into private land.

So instead of filling an area with solar thermal. The city nearby will have residents buying solar kits to start lowering their power bills a bit.

And with EEstor possibly announcing peer review success in some weeks the storage problem will be fixed.

[Isee2020]

6. Baloney

Which Bush puppet was responsible for this? We've got freezes on solar power plant construction now because of concerns about *their* environmental impact.