I think having the BLM delay on this is not such a bad thing. First, this administration can't be trusted to do it right. Second, a giant industrial solar installation isn't necessarily a good thing. We need to get out of the mentality of enormous, centralized power plants. BLM land tends to be farther away from the large power loads, with perhaps the exception of Las Vegas or any town in Nevada for that matter. Building these industrial power plants out on top of otherwise relatively pristine land and then building giant power grids to ship the energy far away doesn't seem as wise as locating these solar projects closer to (or on) where the power will be used.

We need to create a better power system, which will use solar extensively. But why not do it correctly from the start?

"There are 80 million acres on U.S. land leased to the oil and gas industry, and not once acre for solar."

I can only say one thing .... ug

Open up offshore drilling and put a moratorium on solar for leased gov land. This is absolutely nuts. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but my god, come on.

Such a shame. Oh January, when we get to inaugurate the next president, with an administration that might actually make energy policy, why are you so far away?

It seems right that the international community is actually thinking about charging crimes against humanity not only against the administration once it leaves, but also officials who set policy that are endangering life on the planet. Blocking wind and solar on public lands, but allowing oil, coal and gas development surely rates as a crime against all life when we have a good idea of the long term consequences.

woinfo@blm.gov.

Send them a short message of what you think of their loathsome plan.

This moratorium speaks volumes about our country’s priorities and thought processes. This is an embarrassment.

Thankfully, the more pressing issue is how we are going to transition from using oil and solar is not the solution. We can keep burning fossil fuels if we have to but we need real solutions for transportation fuel.

I hope people are writing to their government officials about how they want this moratorium not only reversed but that the government program should be heavily funded so that the applications can be processed and that we can get going in a significant way. Solar is ready but the government is not.

This could be a good idea. At least the BLM is aiming for a unified standard. That will make it much easier for solar businesses to plan, and allow the BLM to speed up approvals in the future.

Though I imagine it unlikely, it would be unfortunate to rush forward in ignorance and later discover we were doing more damage than with gas plants.

There are still a few more days to comment, if you have any expertise on the land impact issues. Just telling them you want solar power probably won't help them finish the process any faster.

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2008/may_08/NR_053008.html

This could be a good idea. At least the BLM is aiming for a unified standard which should make it much easier for solar businesses to plan, and allow the BLM to speed up approvals in the future. It's not like they are stopping the process altogether. There are still 1 million acres in the works.

Though I imagine it unlikely, it would be unfortunate to rush forward in ignorance and later discover we were doing more damage than with gas plants.

There are still a few more days to comment, if you have any expertise on the land impact issues. Just telling them you want solar power probably won't help them finish the land analysis process any faster.

BLM Request for Comment

This is the same BLM that approves clear cutting, strip mining, mountaintop removal mining and says storing radioactive tailings in open surface piles is A-OK! For the past couple of years they've found it much harder to force new coal plants on people so this is only their latest crooked play.

They've been trying to railroad Vegas with 3 new coal powerplants for several years now. The power would go to California but we would get the polution. The DOE's own numbers show that the coal plants cost more than wind, which the BLM is also blocking. In fact, just one coal plant at Eli would use $700M worth of coal a year = enough to build 3 Nevada Solar Ones (the 3rd largest solar plant in the world) every single year.

People need to know the way utilities are set up to understand how crooked they are. Coal & nuke plants are subsidized by tax dollars but built and operated by private businesses for profit. What kind of profits? Well, utility commissions typically grant the operators an 8 to 14% guaranteed profit on whatever they spend. That means that a coal plant burning $100M a year will make $8 to $14M but a plant burning $700M a year will make $56 to $98M a year profit. Often you find that all the sub contractors in front and behind (waste disposal) are seriously overbilling vs free market rates and so their profit gets added into the monopoly profits.

But the solar and wind plants can't be padded to the same degree so crooks hate them.