Not in my back yard, say foes of planned solar plants

By Stephanie Tavares

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 | 2 a.m.

If renewable energy is the industry of the future, people who live and play near proposed plants wish the future were happening a little farther away.

The Bureau of Land Management will hold a public hearing tonight in Las Vegas to define the issues surrounding a proposed solarthermal power plant on a dusty swath of land in Amargosa Valley just north of Death Valley. It’s the final of four meetings across the state to gather information on what the wildlife biologists and surveyors need to look for when evaluating the impacts the project could have.

Because the project is one of the first two Nevada solar plants to begin the environmental review process for leases of BLM land, their progress is being closely watched by solar energy competitors, trade unions and industry insiders as well as those who live near other proposed solar installations.

The other project, a photovoltaic array, is planned for BLM land near Primm.

Solar energy has been heralded as the new ‘it’ industry in Nevada, capable of curbing the carbon footprint and boosting the economy, among other things. With Nevada’s congressional delegation pulling strings and pushing legislation to kick the review process into high gear, the first project proposals are now seeing the light of day.

There’s just one problem: the neighbors.

Both projects face strong opposition from the people who live and play near the proposed plants. Hundreds of Nevadans and a few Californians have filled meeting halls and auditoriums across the state to raise concerns about habitat destruction, threat of toxic fire, water use and loss of recreation opportunities.

The third-party contractor hired by BLM to complete environmental impact statements on the projects must address significant concerns in its reports. The public can then comment on the environmental report before the BLM makes a decision on whether to grant the solar companies a lease of its land.

It’s easy to cite the benefits of the projects.

The planned solar photovoltaic array in Primm, for instance, would generate 267 megawatts. Building it would put hundreds of construction workers, welders and electrician back on the job.

But the proposed site is near historical migration routes for endangered species including the bighorn sheep and desert tortoises. And it’s at the foot of a wash that will have to be diverted around the site during heavy storms, disturbing more land.

Residents on both sides of the border worry that with plans for an airport at Ivanpah, a high-speed rail system, the California port of entry relocated from near Barstow and the solar array, they’ll be squeezed out of their rural lifestyle at a time when they can no longer afford to sell their land and leave.

The proposed array would also bisect a popular off highway vehicle raceway, shutting hundreds of buggy and dirt bike enthusiasts out of the trails and abandoned power line maintenance roads they’ve ridden for decades. The large races support Primm’s casinos, gas stations, outlet mall and restaurants.

Off-roaders say they understand the need for green jobs and energy but want a place to drive. They’ve been continually pushed out of one area or another by changing BLM priorities.

“I’d rather go without work than work for you,” Lucas Hand, a tradesman and off-road rider from Las Vegas, told the solar array developers at an Aug. 13 BLM hearing. “We’ve lost land constantly due to development. You’re taking away land people are already using and hurting the businesses that cater to the OHV (off-highway vehicle) community. We need this, but not on land that’s open to the public.”

The Amargosa Valley plant’s biggest impact would be felt a bit closer to home: It’s in the middle of town.

Amargosans welcome solar power development in the valley — it would create jobs that might keep the young people in town — but they don’t want 4,350 acres of parabolic mirrors across the back yard fence.

Things are different here, they say. People move here and stay here for the slower pace, to enjoy the simple things like a cup of coffee while watching the sun rise over the mountains. Their community’s only church, library, park, school, chamber of commerce and senior center are within a quarter-mile of the proposed plant, which would sit on Amargosa Valley’s main drag, Amargosa Farm Road.

Oh the irony, they say, of a sunrise blocked by a solar plant.

Other concerns are less about lifestyle and more about life. The volunteer fire department worries it wouldn’t have the equipment or manpower to handle the types of accidents possible at a solarthermal plant. Valley parents and teachers don’t want an industrial plant that uses toxic chemicals next to the elementary school.

The hikers, biologists and rangers who frequent Death Valley worry that the 4,000 acre-feet of water the plant’s German developer, Solar Millennium, wants to pull from the ground each year to help cool the system will drain the park’s life-sustaining springs.

Residents complain that under the BLM’s review process, people have fewer rights than pupfish.

“We feel like we’re in the way,” said Amargosa Valley resident Patricia Corrigan, who lives across the street from the proposed plant site. “You could have had your pick of the land anywhere else and you picked a place in the middle of town ... It’s insulting.”

Solar energy insiders are watching all of this with interest. Hearings for the two solar power plants can show developers what to expect from the BLM and locals as they bring their projects forward.

While dozens more solar projects near Primm and Amargosa Valley are in the works, they have yet to make it out of the application stage and into scoping and environmental review.

BLM Renewable Energy Project Manager Gregory Helseth said the projects will set precedents for developments — that’s why the BLM wants to get it right the first time. And some energy developers want to assess what they’re up against before taking the plunge.

These two were first to enter scoping, not because they were potentially controversial and would make good examples for others, but because the developers finished all the paperwork first, Helseth said.

And now they may set the pattern of what’s to come.