Red Lodge Clearinghouse

No new applications for solar power sites will be accepted until BLM and the Department of Energy issue a final version of the "programmatic environmental impact statement," or PEIS, a process that could take two years, according to BLM project manager Linda Resseguie.

Existing applications will continue to be processed during the analysis, said BLM.

There are currently no utility-scale solar power plants on BLM lands, but developers have filed 125 applications for permits covering nearly 1 million acres, according to BLM, which manages 120 million acres in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. And interest in solar power is not expected to diminish in the near future.

"Both agencies want to facilitate solar development. That's the bottom line of why we're doing this," Resseguie said. "The PEIS will provide consistency and certainty for solar developers."

By evaluating the common environmental impacts of all solar power projects, the PEIS will streamline the permitting process, Resseguie said. After the PEIS is finished, environmental analysis of individual plants will focus on site-specific factors, relying on the PEIS for guidance on solar power's general effects.

Wind energy development operates under its own PEIS, which, according to Resseguie, has expedited processing of applications.

"If folks are concerned about us not accepting new applications, our rationale is we need to get a better program together," she said. "We think that it's actually going to speed up deployment of solar energy projects."

Restrictions on solar power sites

BLM has already proclaimed that certain special areas -- including national monuments, wild and scenic rivers, wilderness study areas, and national landscape conservation areas -- will be off limits to solar development due to their ecological importance.

The solar power industry and land conservation groups both applauded BLM's decision, but for different reasons.

The PEIS will accelerate solar permitting by eliminating extensive and repetitive investigations of solar power's general ecological effects, according to Katherine Gensler, manager of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association. Up to 50 percent of a solar project's environmental analysis involves general impacts, she added.

"The solar PEIS levels the playing field between solar and the other power sources that already have expedited approval processes," Gensler said.

Phil Hanceford of the Wilderness Society said the decision to conduct a PEIS indicates BLM is taking the time to do a cautious analysis of where they should and should not proceed with solar developments. "That's just much better than the 'forge ahead, see what happens, fix it later' approach that we often see with energy projects," he said.

Resseguie conceded and suggested that BLM's proactive approach to engaging in the PEIS would help provide long-term benefits by identifying best management practices and the most effective environmental mitigations.

The Wilderness Society says it supports BLM's decision to remove all national landscape conservation system units from consideration for development. In addition, the group says it will also encourage BLM to steer development away from wildlife corridors and off critical habitat for endangered species entirely, as land traffic from large-scale projects can disturb desert vegetation and the animals that depend on it, Hanceford said.

"With any large-scale energy development, there are environmental concerns with how and where the projects will be developed," Hanceford said. "There's no way we don't support renewable energy and solar development, but only where and when it's necessary and appropriate."

Solar power seeks incorporation into Western energy corridors

The PEIS may affect the development of Western energy transmission corridors, which are intended to consolidate power lines and pipelines that traverse public lands. The corridor plan would streamline energy rights-of-way decisions so that they would no longer be made on a case-by-case basis (Land Letter, Jan. 31).

The corridors have been the subject of considerable debate since a draft map was introduced in January. Democrats and environmental groups have accused the current plans for giving privilege to oil and gas development interests at the expense of the renewable power industry, and they have asked for more time for the plans to be re-evaluated.

In April, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and other Democrats asked BLM to redraw the corridors and re-evaluate the potential effects the current designation routes. "The current map looks like a giant extension cord to existing coal sources," Grijalva said.

Solar industry advocates are optimistic that the PEIS could shift the corridors in their favor. "That would certainly be helpful to amass all of these different corridors and zone processes together on one map," the Solar Energy Industries Association's Gensler said.

The industry may get its wish. Existing corridors could be modified or new corridors could be added because of new solar sites, Resseguie said.

"The feeling is we may have missed some opportunities," she said. "Interest in solar has grown exponentially since the corridor project began. We want to make sure we have corridors identified if they're needed."

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