The Obama administration issued proposed guidelines Thursday for solar development on public lands in the West, a move that could speed renewable-energy projects that have been mired in environmental controversy. The detailed analysis, known as Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, identifies 24 "solar energy zones" in six states that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said would be most suited "for environmentally sound, utility-scale solar energy production." Under the 10,000-page plan, which is now subject to public comment for 90 days, developers would have a higher level of confidence that they could receive federal permits establishing solar ventures in specific areas in states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Right now, there is a serious backlog of applications for projects dating back to the George W. Bush administration. In the past three months, Interior has approved eight utility-scale solar projects in California and Nevada that will collectively generate 3,572 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 1 million homes. But there are 104 active solar applications pending at the Bureau of Land Management, covering 1 million acres, both inside and outside the proposed zones, that developers estimate could generate an additional 60,000 megawatts of power...more
Let's see, 10,000 pages in 90 days. That's over a 100 pages a day. Have had it folks.
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