{"id":347183,"date":"2024-10-17T13:53:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T11:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347183"},"modified":"2024-10-17T13:53:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T11:53:04","slug":"solar-plan-clashes-with-endangered-sage-grouse-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347183","title":{"rendered":"Solar plan clashes with endangered sage grouse habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

A significant element of the administration\u2019s forced transition to green energy runs the risk of conflicting with the White House\u2019s simultaneous efforts to preserve the habitat of the endangered greater sage grouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western Solar Plan,<\/a> spearheaded by the Interior Department\u2019s Bureau of Land Management, would expand industrial-scale solar power development on 31 million acres of federal land in 11 Western states. Under the plan, renewable energy developers would be allowed to install hundreds of thousands of solar panels, hundreds of miles of transmission lines, and other solar power infrastructure on federal land deemed suitable for massive solar arrays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the land being eyed for taxpayer-subsidized solar projects is also habitat for the endangered greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling, flightless bird best known for its males\u2019 exotic mating dance. The grouse\u2019s dwindling numbers are found in California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSage-grouse numbers have likely declined since the settlement of the western United States,\u201d the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says<\/a>.  \u201cDeclines have been documented since regular monitoring of the species began in the 1950s, which reflects the widespread loss, alteration or fragmentation of the vast sagebrush steppe on which the species depends. Since the late 1960s, numbers have declined by an average of 2.3 percent per year, according to the North American breeding bird survey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BLM that developed the Western Solar Plan is the same agency responsible for issuing the Greater Sage Grouse Land Use Plan, an elaborate document laying out land-use restrictions designed to protect the bird\u2019s habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmentalists who back far-reaching decarbonization policies are shaking their heads at the Western Solar Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think they are giving the developers way too much leeway. They\u2019ve made this incredibly permissive for development at the expense of habitat,\u201d Randi Spivak, the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity policy director, told<\/a> The Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News & Guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undeterred, administration officials see no conflict between protecting the sage grouse and pushing solar power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will help responsible solar development to locations with fewer potential conflicts while helping the nation transition to a clean energy economy, furthering BLM\u2019s mission to sustain the health, diversity and productivity on public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations,\u201d said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s Spivak will have none of it. \u201cIn our transition to renewable energy, we cannot sacrifice biodiversity and habitat,\u201d she said.  \u201cThere is real tension here, and we need to be mindful of it, I don\u2019t think this proposal fully does that.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No stranger to litigation, CBD has yet to say whether it will file a lawsuit to block the Western Solar Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State and local officials throughout the West, farmers, ranchers, and business leaders have been scrambling for years to develop plans to protect the sage grouse\u2019s habitat. Their fear has been that the bird could be added to the Endangered Species List, triggering draconian land-use restrictions that could cripple the region\u2019s economy. Now, their efforts could be undermined by the administration\u2019s green-energy policy, which could threaten the sage grouse\u2019s habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spivak and the CBD are not the only environmentalists citing the threat giant solar arrays can pose to wildlife. Naomi Fraga, director of conservation at the California Botanical Garden and research assistant professor of botany at the Clearmont Graduate University, worries about the effect land-intensive solar projects will have on the endangered desert tortoise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know there have been significant impacts on desert tortoise,\u201d she told<\/a> Salon.  \u201cThey\u2019ve worked to translocate the desert tortoise, but there has been a lot of loss to desert tortoise habitat. In addition, it really increases invasive species in the landscape. It\u2019s a whole disturbance, basically industrializing intact landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In California\u2019s Mojave Desert, state and local officials are allowing<\/a> 3,500 endangered Joshua trees to be removed to make way for a vast solar project, which will provide intermittent power to residents of the Central Coast. The site is also home to the desert tortoise, which could find itself in the bull\u2019s-eye of the Western Solar Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the human toll of the green-energy transition, including child labor in Africa used to mine cobalt for batteries, a price is also being paid by wildlife inconveniently standing in the way of the green Utopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

A significant element of the administration\u2019s forced transition to green energy runs the risk of conflicting with the White House\u2019s simultaneous efforts to preserve the habitat of the endangered greater sage grouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":347184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","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_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":[691830965,691830967,691830966],"class_list":{"0":"post-347183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-green-energy-transition-2","9":"tag-interior-departments-bureau-of-land-management","10":"tag-the-western-solar-plan","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Greater-Sage-Grouse.jpg?fit=1199%2C711&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1sjJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":395221,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=395221","url_meta":{"origin":347183,"position":0},"title":"Solar Blasphemy in India\u2019s Thar Desert\u00a0","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The push for solar energy is carving a path of destruction through the Thar Desert in India\u2019s Rajasthan, where native species maintain a delicate balance of life now being sacrificed to an absurd and futile climate agenda.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In \"birds\"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNqvFFZ7gLjNJQdWu5z6A3hQ9lDeAdJ9Vlu4mdcx72-6a3aQEO65I86Fg9mXdLydRkV0PpvooXUOD3OS3N3dEx5i2g9bRnZTz6W5p-1ixDiOAk6DNYChA_SKRWdtGcOlniUbJBSYB7YfJPK-VbMOgsjXBjR1Q-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNqvFFZ7gLjNJQdWu5z6A3hQ9lDeAdJ9Vlu4mdcx72-6a3aQEO65I86Fg9mXdLydRkV0PpvooXUOD3OS3N3dEx5i2g9bRnZTz6W5p-1ixDiOAk6DNYChA_SKRWdtGcOlniUbJBSYB7YfJPK-VbMOgsjXBjR1Q-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNqvFFZ7gLjNJQdWu5z6A3hQ9lDeAdJ9Vlu4mdcx72-6a3aQEO65I86Fg9mXdLydRkV0PpvooXUOD3OS3N3dEx5i2g9bRnZTz6W5p-1ixDiOAk6DNYChA_SKRWdtGcOlniUbJBSYB7YfJPK-VbMOgsjXBjR1Q-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNqvFFZ7gLjNJQdWu5z6A3hQ9lDeAdJ9Vlu4mdcx72-6a3aQEO65I86Fg9mXdLydRkV0PpvooXUOD3OS3N3dEx5i2g9bRnZTz6W5p-1ixDiOAk6DNYChA_SKRWdtGcOlniUbJBSYB7YfJPK-VbMOgsjXBjR1Q-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNqvFFZ7gLjNJQdWu5z6A3hQ9lDeAdJ9Vlu4mdcx72-6a3aQEO65I86Fg9mXdLydRkV0PpvooXUOD3OS3N3dEx5i2g9bRnZTz6W5p-1ixDiOAk6DNYChA_SKRWdtGcOlniUbJBSYB7YfJPK-VbMOgsjXBjR1Q-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":301903,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=301903","url_meta":{"origin":347183,"position":1},"title":"Wind and Solar Slaughtering India\u2019s Iconic Bird","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/02\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By commissioning expensive and inefficient wind and solar electric generating facilities, India may have dug the grave of its own efforts to save the critically endangered great Indian bustard. 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