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..Two decades ago, Congress preserved the mountain — called Avi Kwa Ame (ah-VEE-kwah-may) in Mojave — and 33,000 acres around it as wilderness. Now the Biden administration is readying a proclamation that could put roughly 450,000 acres — spanning almost the entire triangle at the bottom of the Nevada map — off limits to development under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
When finalized, it will probably rank as the largest act of land conservation that President Biden will undertake this term...
...Some renewable energy advocates warn it could undercut the nation’s climate goals. But wind and solar companies, Desai said, will have to stay on the other side of the monument boundaries.
...Tribes spread out along the Colorado River have adopted resolutions endorsing a monument, including 27 of 28 tribes in the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada and all 21 in the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona.This expanse of Nevada offers some of the best prospects for clean energy development in the country.
...The canyons here produce tremendous wind, and the sun shines 292 days per year, usually without any cloud cover. The area also boasts dozens of mining claims for rare earth elements, now coveted by the clean tech sector.
...The BLM has identified more than 9 million acres of its land in the state for potential large-scale solar projects, according to Interior, and an additional 16.8 million acres for possible wind energy development. The federal government has classified roughly 83 percent of the area the tribes have proposed protecting as either wilderness or “areas of critical environmental concern” as part of an effort to conserve critical desert tortoise habitat...MORE
Watch for my Decenber column, where I predicted this.
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