Feinstein: Don’t Spoil Our Desert With Solar Panels
FOX:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said development of solar and wind facilities in California’s Mojave Desert would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public
WASHINGTON — California’s Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy.
Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public.
Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.
The Wildlands Conservancy orchestrated the government’s purchase of the land between 1999-2004. It negotiated a discount sale from the real estate arm of the former Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroad and then contributed $40 million to help pay for the purchase. David Myers, the conservancy’s executive director, said the solar projects would do great harm to the region’s desert tortoise population.
“It would destroy the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem,” said David Myers, executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy.
Feinstein said the lands in question were donated or purchased with the intent that they would be protected forever. But the Bureau of Land Management considers the land now open to all types of development, except mining. That policy led the state to consider large swaths of the land for future renewable energy production.
“This is unacceptable,” Feinstein said in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “I urge you to direct the BLM to suspend any further consideration of leases to develop former railroad lands for renewable energy or for any other purpose.”
In a speech last year, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger complained about environmental concerns slowing down the approval of solar plants in California.
“If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it,” Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.
But Karen Douglas, chairman of the California Energy Commission, said Feinstein’s proposal could be a “win-win” for energy and conservation. The governor’s office said Douglas was speaking on the administration’s behalf.
“The opportunity we see in the Feinstein bill is to jump-start our own efforts to find the best sites for development and to come up with a broader conservation plan that mitigates the impact of the development,” Douglas said.
Douglas said that if the national monument lines were drawn without consideration of renewable energy then a conflict was likely, but it’s early enough in the planning process that she’s confident the state will be able to get more solar and wind projects up and running without hurting the environment.
“We think we can do both,” Douglas said. “We think this is an opportunity to accelerate both.”
Greg Miller of the Bureau of Land Management said there are 14 solar energy and five wind energy projects that have submitted applications seeking to develop on what’s referred to as the former Catellus lands. None of the projects are close to being approved, he said.
The land lies in the southeast corner of California, between the existing Mojave National Preserve on the north and Joshua Tree National Park on the south.
“They all have to go through a rigorous environmental analysis now,” Miller said. “It will be at best close to two years out before we get some of these grants approved.”
Feinstein’s spokesman, Gil Duran, said the senator looks forward to working with the governor and the Interior Department on the issue.
“There’s plenty of room in America’s deserts for the bold expansion of renewable energy projects,” Duran said.
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Cool! Let’s get a war going between the Libs, and the tree huggers..While we are at it, why don’t they just send all those turtles to Nancy? I’m sure she would take them in, and fly them around the US.
Go get em Diane!
Hang that POS CEO of ‘Big Wind’, Barry Soetero!
“Sen. Dianne Feinstein said development of solar and wind facilities in California’s Mojave Desert would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public”
Correction, when the “conservationists” donated the land it was because it was a wasteland with no potential to provide them with income (at that time) so they “donated” it to get out from under the property taxes of Kalifornia. Let’s use our brain’s people…oh its Sen. Feinstein never mind.
as if the desert is all that important to her, besides we needthe power, how about putting them up in fiestines back yard.
Let’s have alternative energy, because we won’t drill for own oil, won’t build nuclear power plants, won’t put those ugly windmills in our backyards, and we won’t screw up the aesthetics of our open spaces with goofy looking solar panels.
Not in my District!
Just like Kennedy’s Wind Farms, they are needed, but not on his coast.
F’em!
“…would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land…”
Unless the contracts for the panels went to Ms Feinstein’s husband’s Companies, URS and/or Perini.
This is the only “alternative energy” that suits environazis….
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/stars5501/hybrid1-1.jpg
Alternative energy, my ass. The very best solar panels generate about 1 watt per sq ft. @ 120 volts. The average clothes dryer consumes 4500 watts @ 240 volts. Do the math….. The solar panels also have a useful life of 20+ years. A Sanyo 6500 watt system currently runs about $43,000.00 not including installation. Anybody got that kind of money just laying around even assuming we were stupid enough to clime on the solar bandwagon? Wind power my ass! How much does the wind blow in your area? Even the wind power supporters claim that it will generate about 25% of the time. Cut through the bullshit and you will arrive at the real figure of about 12%. Windmills need a steady 8+ mph wind and will shut down at about 30 mph to keep from disintegrating. Anybody here willing to accept having power about 10 to 15 percent of the time? I didn’t think so. So it takes our existing generating infrastructure, 60+ percent coal, about 15 percent nuclear and the rest natural gas to maintain a constant flow of electricity running 24/7 because no one knows when the wind may suddenly stop blowing. If it wasn’t for the sorry assed public school system dumbing down people until they can’t even think for themselves and have completely lost the ability for logical thought, this type of farce would never have received a penny of public funding. The public outcry would have scared the crap out of the politicians and their lobbyist friends. The only thing that’s going to stop it now is electric rates at least doubling in the next five years. Mine have gone up 25% in the last year and I just had a notice in my last bill of another 12% increase effective in May. And just think, we can thank a 52.9% of American fools for voting for this……..
If I am not mistaken all voltages from solar panels are low voltages (per panel) and DC not AC. Normal arrays of panels put out 600 volts DC (as connected in series like car batteries). The produced electricity then needs to be stored in a large UPS system which is basically a rack full of car batteries. Before it enters your household system it needs to be converted to 120 volts AC.
While photovoltaic cells (solar panels) are not competitive today to power a power grid, they have been used by the oil and gas production companies for years in remote locations. They are far less expensive to install than running an electric line for miles through the wilderness. In these cases on one or two (if that) 174 watt panels are used to generate power for measurement and control equipment which in miliamps. Panels made by Sharp and Panasonic have been typically used.
If I wanted to, I could go off grid and power my home with an investment of $15,000 not oounting my installation costs. Now this makes a lot of sense until I get to the need for lost area in my home for a climate controlled room to store the batteries and conversion equipment, maintenance, and loss of use of the initial investment.
With a survivalist mentality, it makes a lot of sense to install such a system for your home. You might even want to scale it down to maybe 4500 watts. This is sufficient to operate two each one room air conditioners, a refrigerator, a microwave, a washing machine, household lighting, a coffee maker, a television and computers.
BTW, 1 watt = 1 volt x 1 amp.
Kermit
You better redo your research…. You’ve lost your mind and it’s idiot posts like yours that confuses people. You haven’t the foggiest idea how the hell to do the math. Are you an electrician? Or just a wanna be?
Kermit
Any survivalist with a brain will buy a 6500 watt diesel generator for 1500.00 and about a 1000 gallons of diesel, run his unit about 2 hours a day to keep his freezers cold, shower etc. The idea that solar will do anything more than keep a few batteries charged is a liberal myth. And saying you could buy the panels and related equipment to run your house for $15,000.00 is a crock of shit. What do you live in a dog house? Have you ever put a power monitor on your meter?
Kermit
And if you’re in the mood to argue with me about electricity you’d better be an electrical engineer and I don’t mean one of these phony bastards that has a degree but no practical experience.