The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management wants to expand a siting and permitting plan for solar energy projects on Western public lands in 11 states in a solar energy development proposal announced in January. The new BLM “Western Solar Plan” announced late last month (Aug. 29) consists of a final environmental impact statement and proposed changes to the resource management plan.
Both the original and the new plan would supplant a 2012 BLM policy on solar on public land. Both would add five states — Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming — to the six states in the current BLM solar plan — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
New photovoltaic projects must be within 15 miles of existing high-voltage electric transmission lines. Utility Dive noted, “The BLM’s original proposal, issued in January, suggested a 10-mile restriction that would have limited solar development to roughly 22 million acres, though proposals covering up to 55 million acres were on the table.”
The BLM Federal Register announcement does not authorize any specific new solar projects on federal land. Proposed projects will have to go through a site-specific environmental analysis and public comment.
Under the 2012 plan, solar projects have lagged other energy developments on public lands. According to BLM, working under the 2012 plant, the Biden administration has approved 13 geothermal and nine solar projects.
BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said the solar initiative, “will drive responsible solar development to locations with fewer potential conflicts while helping the nation transition to a clean energy economy, furthering the BLM’s mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and of present and future generations.”
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a Western hunting and fishing group, praised the BLM proposal, commenting, “The plans would allow development near existing and planned transmission lines and on previously disturbed lands, all while avoiding important fish and wildlife habitat, cultural and Tribal resources, and recreational opportunities.”
Tasha Sorenson of Trout Unlimited said, “Trout populations throughout the West face many challenges, not the least of which is climate change and land uses that place additional stress on shrinking native and wild trout habitat. While the plan does not include specific criteria for important fish habitat, we are encouraged that the exclusions would preclude development in areas subject to conservation agreements, such as habitat for many native trout species.”
“Renewable energy buildout on public lands must be thoughtful, cautious and informed, ensuring that we conserve important wildlife habitat, protect hunting and fishing opportunities, and avoid impacts to cultural and Indigenous resources, as we strive for cleaner energy,” said Bailey Brennan, of the National Wildlife Federation. “The BLM’s improved approach to siting and permitting solar development will help achieve these goals, balancing public lands’ many uses.”
Federal Register publication triggers a 30-day general comment period, with 60 days for a “governor’s consistency review” under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. If governors comment, they are more likely to grouse about the administration’s more restrictive policies on oil and gas leasing, ignoring that demand for fossil fuels steadily declines.
In other BLM news, a federal district court judge in New Mexico has ordered BLM to redo part of an environmental impact statement for a proposed magnesium milling operation off the site of a proposed mine in the state’s Florida Mountains to take account of some 2,300 tons of magnesium sludge that will result from the plant.
Judge James Browning of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico told BLM’s Las Cruces office to look at the milling waste. He wrote, “In sum, the BLM acted arbitrarily and capriciously in failing to take a hard look at the water quality impacts related to the Mining Project’s processing mill.”
Mining company American Magnesium in 2017 proposed a dolomite magnesium quarry on 44 acres of federal land, plus the off-site mill. The company claims the project could produce some 30,000 tons of magnesium annually and “hundreds of millions of tons” of portland cement as a mining byproduct.
Browning, 68, who grew up in Hobbs, N.M., began his district court service in August 2001, an appointee of President George W. Bush.
–Kennedy Maize