SUN EDITORIAL:

Listen to the people

Beatty residents attending BLM public hearing denied the chance to speak openly

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 | 2:08 a.m.

A public meeting set by the Bureau of Land Management for Sept. 22 in Beatty will essentially be a do-over in response to outcries from people who attended a strangely run public meeting last month.

On Aug. 12 a news release went out from the Pahrump Field Office of the BLM inviting area residents to any of four public meetings to express their views about a large solar power plant proposed for their region.

The first meeting, on Aug. 17, drew a good crowd, with some having driven an hour to get there.

Public meetings, or “the public scoping process,” as the BLM calls it, on such major developments are required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Their purpose is to ensure that all possible issues become known early in the permitting process, so they can be addressed in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement.

Normally the meetings are held in typical town-hall style, with BLM and project officials in attendance and people arrayed in front of them, waiting their turn to deliver comments that will be recorded and later transcribed for the record.

At this meeting, however, for reasons not entirely clear, people wishing to comment were directed to a court reporter. They were denied the opportunity to speak openly so that they could be assured officials with the BLM and solar company would hear their concerns.

The Las Vegas Sun’s Stephanie Tavares, who reported on the meeting, quoted one resident as saying, “We wanted to talk and this was the time set up to do it. It’s wrong for them to have done this. This is our home we’re talking about.”

It was right for the people of that area to complain. The BLM, which conducted the other three meetings normally, admitted it made a mistake at the Beatty meeting. We trust such callous treatment won’t happen again.

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By Future

Sept. 12, 2009

3:37 a.m.

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Pahrump Field Office of the BLM inviting area residents to any of four public meetings to express their views about a large solar power plant proposed for their region.

Now we know what Too big to fail Senator Harry Reid meant when he told us that solar power plants would not have to follow all those "rules" for everybody else
By LarryVegas

Sept. 12, 2009

6:43 a.m.

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What? The LV SUN could find a way to blame Bush for this?
By mred

Sept. 12, 2009

7:43 a.m.

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Solar should be installed in towns and cities, incorporated into buildings, parking structures, etc. Ruining the aesthetics of rural Nevada doesn't cut it.
By neiman1

Sept. 12, 2009

8:21 a.m.

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It's change. This administration has a desire to push their agenda and public input is not wanted nor tolerated.

Making people talk to a court recorder is intimidation from the get go. This administration is going to force their agenda wherever they want.

It's the Chicago way. Intimidate and ridicule. It's no different the way they are acting than the Congressmen that wont meet with the public and the ridicule they spew daily about anyone protesting their plans.

All Hail "The Leader".