The state of California wants to attain one-third of all of their electricity needs from renewable energy by the year 2020. One step toward reaching this goal is a massive solar farm to be placed in the Mojave Desert. A company called BrightSource Energy is hoping to build the farm on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property.
The proposed plan would include erecting 400,000 mirrors which would create enough energy to power approximately 142,000 homes each year. The proposal would require a variety of planned infrastructure, including eight-foot fencing, a natural gas pipeline, seven 459-foot towers and a variety of other buildings.
If this proposal is passed, it would be the first such project on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property. However, 150 other similar proposals have been made to the Bureau of Land Management as well. These proposals are for the states of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and more locations in California. In total, the proposals include 1.8 million acres of federal land for solar farms.
However, a major obstacle for the current proposal in California’s Mojave Desert is an endangered desert tortoise. If the plan goes through, the solar farm would end up covering six square miles of habitat for the tortoise. If such land is lost, many environmentalists fear for the survival of the species.
The exact population of the tortoise varies, however scientists have agreed that if the proposal goes through at least twenty-five of the tortoises need to be moved. The tortoise has been dropping in population for a number of years now and a solar farm will only greatly hinder the remaining population. This particular desert tortoise has been found to be one genetically distinct from others in the area.
The Sierra Club has been outspoken about the project, pointing to the area being habitat for the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep and the Western burrowing owl. It is also home to a variety of rare plants in an area largely untouched. Another environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, stated: “It’s actually a good project. It’s just located in the wrong place.”