{"id":342828,"date":"2024-09-13T07:59:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T05:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342828"},"modified":"2024-09-13T07:59:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T05:59:49","slug":"biden-admin-fast-tracks-solar-projects-on-federal-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342828","title":{"rendered":"Biden Admin fast tracks solar projects on federal land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eager to push its decarbonization agenda before its term expires in January, the Biden administration is speeding up the issuance for permits for solar projects, along with their supporting infrastructure, on millions of acres of federal land across the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an Aug. 28 announcement, the White House said the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had identified 31 million acres (over 48,400 square miles) of federal land in 11 states deemed suitable for solar development.  The states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Environmental Justice\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A press release<\/a> issued by BLM brimmed with enthusiasm for the agency\u2019s plans for solar development, putting it in the context of the White House\u2019s larger energy agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposed Western Solar Plan builds on President Biden\u2019s Investing in America agenda, which is working to transition the nation to clean energy, lower energy costs to consumers, create good-paying union jobs, tackle the climate crisis, and advance clean air and environmental justice priorities, with the goal of achieving a 100-percent clean-electricity grid by 2035,\u201d the administration said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really pushing ourselves to use our executive authority wherever possible to improve the federal permitting process,\u201d White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said<\/a> in an interview, Reuters<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accelerated permitting process would also cover renewable-energy infrastructure, such as generation interconnect, or gen-tie lines, defined<\/a> by SelectROW, a land and right-of-way services company, as \u201ca series of poles, wires, cables, anchors, and foundations connecting nearby power generation sites and substations.\u201d  The system transmits an electrical current to a substation before the power reaches the grid to condition it for long-distance transmission to local power infrastructures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though not mentioned in the BLM press release, the renewable energy infrastructure could also include battery storage, needed to keep power flowing when the sun doesn\u2019t shine and \u2013 in the case of wind turbines \u2013 when the wind doesn\u2019t blow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Has the Final Say<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the enormous amount of land in question, one of the things that makes putting solar and wind projects on federal land so attractive to renewable-energy enthusiasts, in and out of government, is the near absence of resistance by local communities.  Decisions to put up wind turbines and solar arrays on public land are made by the feds, not by local governments.  State and local officials, along with ordinary citizens, can submit comments to the BLM or rail at public hearings, but the final decision is made in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the world of private ownership of land, things are different.  Some farmers and other rural landowners, eager to boost their income, lease out part of their property to solar developers.  That, however, has triggered a backlash, with a growing number of counties in rural America throwing up roadblocks to what many see as an invasion by \u201cBig Solar.\u201d  \u201cOf the 116 counties implementing bans or impediments to utility-scale solar plants, half did so in 2023 alone, USA Today<\/em> reported<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers are eager to pocket the federal solar power subsidy, known as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), without which putting up a solar plant makes no financial sense.  Their stake in the enterprise, like that of the leasing landowner, is clear.  But what about their neighbors?  Industrial-scale solar plants contain thousands of solar panels that occupy huge swaths of land, but they degrade after 15 or 20 years and must be replaced.  Touted as part of the \u201cclean energy solution,\u201d solar power is anything but clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Ecological Wasteland\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConstruction of an industrial-scale solar power plant requires removal of trees, brush, and root balls prior to the installation of the arrays, creating an ecological wasteland,\u201d Citizens for Responsible Solar points out<\/a>.  \u201cGrading, pile driving, blasting, electric cable trenching, and road construction will compact the soil, likely delaying agricultural use for years after the project\u2019s end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUncontrolled runoff of water and topsoil is a well-documented byproduct of industrial solar site development,\u201d the group adds.  \u201cThis massive increase in watershed sedimentation impacts all downstream rivers and estuaries.  Water contamination doesn\u2019t stop with the end of construction.  Removal of all trees and deep-rooted plants, along with inadequate stormwater controls, lead to long-term runoff and water contamination issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The environmental case for industrial-scale solar arrays is as weak as that for giant wind turbines, whether onshore or offshore.  Both have in common that they are intermittent sources of electricity and thus woefully inadequate for meeting the soaring power demands of our emerging AI-driven, 21st<\/sup>-century industrial base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loading up federal lands with millions of inefficient, chemical-laden solar panels, as the Biden-Harris administration plans to do, is throwing taxpayers\u2019 money at a technology that can never deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at NewsMax<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eager to push its decarbonization agenda before its term expires in January, the Biden administration is speeding up the issuance for permits for solar projects, along with their supporting infrastructure, on millions of acres of federal land across the West.<\/p>\n

In an Aug. 28 announcement, the White House said the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had identified 31 million acres (over 48,400 square miles) of federal land in 11 states deemed suitable for solar development. The states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":342831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691826853,691830570,691830568,691830569,691818772],"class_list":["post-342828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bureau-of-land-management-blm","tag-decarbonization-agenda","tag-federal-land","tag-solar-projects","tag-u-s-president-joe-biden","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0What-does-a-Biden-Presidency-mean-for-solar-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1rbu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":264656,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264656","url_meta":{"origin":342828,"position":0},"title":"Massive Desert Solar Projects Are Sucking Up Groundwater, Angering Locals","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/30\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Massive solar development projects in Southern California have strained local water availability, threatening desert ecosystems and angering residents who have been impacted by the strain on the water supply, according to an Inside Climate News report.","rel":"","context":"In \"Desert Solar Projects\"","block_context":{"text":"Desert Solar Projects","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=desert-solar-projects"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0AX0005_083-00002.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0AX0005_083-00002.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0AX0005_083-00002.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0AX0005_083-00002.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0AX0005_083-00002.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":407636,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=407636","url_meta":{"origin":342828,"position":1},"title":"Trump Admin Shakes Up Biggest Solar Boondoggle in North America","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Department of the Interior (DOI) designated a massive solar project in Nevada as \u201ccancelled\u201d on Thursday, according to the agency\u2019s website, though a spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that applicants can now \u201csubmit individual project proposals.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQPmoVCBvrXW70_B6WY8yR_6ewIaG5IQSLNmkOzJkzqdsozlvwmXTkIJwoXjBGwecslQL4TEfPnKZCe2zRl-reJZICwpW_-CswOKYAPAeMzLklIxmMc_wmSM2f_l8TQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQPmoVCBvrXW70_B6WY8yR_6ewIaG5IQSLNmkOzJkzqdsozlvwmXTkIJwoXjBGwecslQL4TEfPnKZCe2zRl-reJZICwpW_-CswOKYAPAeMzLklIxmMc_wmSM2f_l8TQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQPmoVCBvrXW70_B6WY8yR_6ewIaG5IQSLNmkOzJkzqdsozlvwmXTkIJwoXjBGwecslQL4TEfPnKZCe2zRl-reJZICwpW_-CswOKYAPAeMzLklIxmMc_wmSM2f_l8TQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQPmoVCBvrXW70_B6WY8yR_6ewIaG5IQSLNmkOzJkzqdsozlvwmXTkIJwoXjBGwecslQL4TEfPnKZCe2zRl-reJZICwpW_-CswOKYAPAeMzLklIxmMc_wmSM2f_l8TQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQPmoVCBvrXW70_B6WY8yR_6ewIaG5IQSLNmkOzJkzqdsozlvwmXTkIJwoXjBGwecslQL4TEfPnKZCe2zRl-reJZICwpW_-CswOKYAPAeMzLklIxmMc_wmSM2f_l8TQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":246750,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246750","url_meta":{"origin":342828,"position":2},"title":"Giant Idaho wind project runs into turbulence","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Plans by a New York company, LS Power, to put up as many as 400 soaring wind turbines on 76,000 acres (about 12 square miles) on federal land outside of Twin Falls, Idaho have sparked outrage among local residents and officials, as well as the state\u2019s governor.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-139.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-139.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-139.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-139.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-139.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":268914,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268914","url_meta":{"origin":342828,"position":3},"title":"And now, the climate gang Is coming for our thermostats","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/23\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2019, candidate Joe Biden pledged to voters that, if elected president, \u201cWe\u2019re going to end fossil fuel.\u201d Since taking office, he has worked ceaselessly with the radical environmentalists who call the shots and set the agenda to make good on his campaign promise by waging an all-out war against\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"climate gang\"","block_context":{"text":"climate gang","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-gang"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0thermostat-istock-2.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0thermostat-istock-2.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0thermostat-istock-2.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0thermostat-istock-2.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0thermostat-istock-2.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":305504,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=305504","url_meta":{"origin":342828,"position":4},"title":"Rural America set to be transformed by up to 55 million-acre federal solar plan","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Solar energy\u2019s appetite for vast amounts of land has prompted the Biden administration to propose designating as much as 55 million acres of public lands as potential sites for industrial-scale solar farms.","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0554296a5e78dbd98814b9b156a21f1bc.png?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0554296a5e78dbd98814b9b156a21f1bc.png?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0554296a5e78dbd98814b9b156a21f1bc.png?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0554296a5e78dbd98814b9b156a21f1bc.png?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0554296a5e78dbd98814b9b156a21f1bc.png?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":298343,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=298343","url_meta":{"origin":342828,"position":5},"title":"NYSE withdraws Biden-backed rule that would stymie development on millions of acres","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/24\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Facing growing public resistance and the near certainty of a resounding defeat in the courts, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Jan. 17 withdrew a proposed rule that would have created a new asset class \u2014 known as \u201cNatural Asset Companies\u201d (NACs) \u2014 designed not to make money for investors,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM)\"","block_context":{"text":"Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bureau-of-land-managements-blm"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0facade-New-York-Stock-Exchange-City.webp?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0facade-New-York-Stock-Exchange-City.webp?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0facade-New-York-Stock-Exchange-City.webp?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0facade-New-York-Stock-Exchange-City.webp?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0facade-New-York-Stock-Exchange-City.webp?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342828"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342833,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342828\/revisions\/342833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/342831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}