Comment
Comment
re: #555 researchok
The article regarding Feinstein is misleading. The legislation she is proposing in no shape or form is intended to block or fight solar and wind projects on public land. If anything it provides mechanism to streamline the process on both public and private land:
Title II: Renewable Energy Development
Requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to establish offices specifically focused on renewable energy development in each state with significant wind and solar resources on public land.
Helps cut through the backlog of pending renewable development applications with a “use it or lose it” approach to replace the BLM’s current “first come-first serve” practice.
Expedites the application process for solar development on private lands…
That National Monument proposal has been in the work for some time and it includes 45 million dollars contributed to by the Wildlands Conservancy to the Department of Interior. The area includes:
Mojave Trails National Monument Proposal
A portion of California’s largest cactus garden;
Pisgah Lava Flow – the most researched area in North America for the effects of volcanism on evolution;
Amboy Crater – a National Natural Landmark;
Sleeping Beauty Valley – the last intact valley representing the West Mojave plant associations;
Cady Mountains – best area in the Mojave to see bighorn sheep;
Afton Canyon – the Mojave River flows year-round amid colorful canyon walls;Marble Mountains Fossil Beds – site of 550 million-year-old fossils of trilobites, which were among the first animals on earth with eyes and skeletons;
Wildlife and recreational corridors that connect two national parks and 13 wilderness areas – a refuge for campers and explorers, bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, and fringe-toed lizards.
Much can be said but the proposal for this National Monument was in place for several years now. A more balanced report can be found at NPR: A Renewable Energy Debate Heats Up In The Mojave.
