They say "jeaopardize" like it's a bad thing (Environmental concerns delay solar projects... LA Times)

[Kell Brigan]

See
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar19-2009oct19,0,2124650.story
for pictures.

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar19-2009oct19,0,2124650.story

latimes.com
Environmental concerns delay solar projects in California desert
Several companies seek to build renewable-energy facilities on public
land -- a goal backed by the White House -- but the slow permit
process and fears over imperiled species have hindered construction.
By Louis Sahagun

9:22 PM PDT, October 18, 2009

Reporting from El Centro, Calif.

Across the desert flatlands of southeastern California, dozens of
companies have flooded federal offices with applications to place
solar mirrors on more than a million acres of public land.

But just as some of those projects appear headed toward fruition,
environmental hurdles threaten to jeopardize efforts to further tap
the region's renewable energy potential.

The development of solar-power facilities in the desert has been a top
priority of the Obama administration as it seeks to ease the nation's
dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming. In addition, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged that the state meet one-third of its
electricity needs from renewable sources by 2020.

Companies are racing to finalize their permits and break ground by the
end of next year, which would qualify them to obtain some of the $15
billion in federal stimulus funds designated for renewable energy
projects. At stake is the creation of 48,000 jobs and more than 5,300
megawatts of new energy, enough to power almost 1.8 million homes,
according to federal land managers.

But the presence of sensitive habitat, rare plants and imperiled
creatures such as desert tortoises, bighorn sheep and flat-tailed
horned lizards threatens to stall or derail some of the projects
closest to securing permits.

"There are significant environmental issues involved in the California
gold rush-like scenario unfolding in the desert," said Peter Galvin,
conservation director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "We are
not going to just roll over when critical wild lands and last habitats
of endangered species are in the mix."

Beyond the environmental issues is a bureaucratic one: State and
federal regulatory agencies are hobbled by mandatory work furloughs
and a lack of experience in processing utility-scale renewable energy
project applications.

Removing that obstacle has become a top priority, with Schwarzenegger
and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signing an agreement last week
to help state and federal authorities expedite renewable energy
development in the desert.

"The California process, our state process, is slow, the federal
process is slow," Schwarzenegger said. "And this is why it is
important that we go and create this kind of partnership so we can
move through that and get rid of the red tape."

Salazar characterized the effort to facilitate a rapid and responsible
move to large-scale renewables on public lands as a preeminent
conservation issue of the 21st century. "If we fail, the rest of the
world will move ahead of us," he said. "There is no reason for the
U.S. to come in second on this agenda. And we won't."

One of the biggest projects is slated for 6,500 acres of public and
private land just north of Interstate 8 near El Centro. Arizona-based
Stirling Energy Systems said its Solar Two facility would create 700
jobs.

In a surprise setback, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June to reconsider its decision
not to list the flat-tailed horned lizard as an endangered species.

Stirling is investing heavily in strategies to minimize potential
conflicts. Sean Gallagher, Stirling's vice president of marketing
strategies and regulatory issues, said the company recently reduced
the size of the project from 900 megawatts to 750 to avoid an area
strewn with Native American artifacts.

The company also plans, with help from the Bureau of Land Management,
to identify and buy 6,500 acres of flat-tailed horned lizard habitat
elsewhere in Imperial County to help conserve the species. "That won't
be an inconsiderable expense," Gallagher said.

In a worst-case scenario for the company and community boosters, the
Fish and Wildlife Service could decide that the project threatens the
lizard's existence and shut it down.

Peninsular bighorn sheep became an issue in March 2008 when company
surveyors spotted two adult females and two lambs ambling down a dry
wash in the heart of the Stirling site, miles from their usual
mountain haunts.

Company officials and federal land managers have dismissed the
incident as an aberration, speculating that the sheep were
accidentally driven into the area by hunters or off-road vehicles. But
some environmentalists are concerned that the federally endangered
sheep may have followed a previously unknown migration corridor.

A coalition of environmental groups sued the Fish and Wildlife Service
this month for slashing critical habitat designations for the sheep.

That worries Andy Horne, chief of natural resources development for
Imperial County.

"We have the highest unemployment rate of any county in the state, so
this [project] is very important to us," Horne said. "We've pegged our
future on it."

As for the threatened reptiles, he mused, "If I were a flat-tailed
horned lizard, I'd welcome the chance to get under the shade of one of
those solar mirrors and take a little nap."

Even further along in the permitting process is BrightSource Energy,
which plans to start construction in March on a 6-square-mile solar
facility in eastern San Bernardino County's Ivanpah Valley.

BrightSource says the site is ideal, in part because it has been used
for cattle grazing and off-road vehicles. It also has a major gas line
and two major transmission lines.

Ivanpah is "a showcase of world-class technology and environmentally
friendly development, and serves as a catalyst for economic growth,"
said company spokesman Keely Wachs.

But environmental groups say it would destroy what they see as a
relatively pristine habitat that is home to a colony of about 30
threatened California desert tortoises. It is also studded with
endangered cactuses, including varieties of cholla, a ground-hugging
species also known as "horse tripper."

Of particular concern are BrightSource's plans to move the California
desert tortoises. Environmentalists say the tortoises often die as a
result of attempts to relocate them.

The Sierra Club has recommended that the company instead develop its
facility in wide open, ecologically disturbed areas a few miles to the
east, next to Interstate 15.

"We believe there is room for solar energy development in the
California desert," said Joan Taylor, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's
California/Nevada desert energy committee. "But there is no reason to
put it in the wrong place."

BrightSource is "very concerned about the welfare of the desert
tortoise," Wachs said, adding that the company has worked extensively
with regulators and environmental groups to come up with a strategy
that protects the species.

State and federal regulatory agencies are reviewing BrightSource's
tortoise relocation plan, but one state official was critical of the
project's location.

"BrightSource did not choose an ideal site. They are going to have to
do some serious mitigation," said Dan Pellissier, Schwarzenegger's
deputy secretary for energy and development.

He said the state energy commission and Bureau of Land Management "are
working on a plan" that would require the company to buy three acres
of habitat elsewhere for each acre developed. "It looks like we'll get
them through" the permitting stages, he said, "and we'll end up with a
responsible process that will keep us from ever allowing this to
happen again."

Meanwhile, pressure to approve solar plants continues to mount in
Bureau of Land Management offices throughout Southern California.

"Bullying us to step up the pace won't help," said Greg Miller, head
of a new team created to speed up the bureau's permitting of renewable
energy projects. "We're going to do this right; this land belongs to
the American people."

louis....@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

[Kell Brigan]