Riverside County objects to desert conservation plan

Riverside County officials officially objected Tuesday, July 12, to conservation rules in a sweeping federal and state land-use plan for California’s deserts, arguing they would stifle continued development of large-scale solar projects in the region. “The plan will chill, if not thwart, altogether, additional renewable energy development on federally managed lands in Riverside County,” said a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell approved by a 4-0 vote of county supervisors. The letter criticizes the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, which is a federal and state planning initiative aimed at helping conserve pristine natural areas while also streamlining development of solar, wind and other clean energy in the places where such projects would do little harm...more