My latest climate column for the Los Angeles Times…as always, curious what you think! Here’s how it starts:
>On the surface, the Biden administration’s recent announcement that it was forging ahead with more than a dozen renewable energy projects on Western public lands sounded like a big deal.
>
>In some ways, it was. The U.S. Department of the Interior reported important steps forward for 15 solar farms, electric transmission lines and potential geothermal power plants in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah — crucial tools for replacing the coal, oil and fossil natural gas that are fueling deadlier heat waves and polluting our air with dangerous fumes.
>
>“The projects we are advancing today will add enough clean energy to the grid to power millions of homes,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a written statement this week.
>
>Yes, they will — if they ultimately get approved, and then built.It can take many years for federal officials to go through all the required steps to evaluate proposed solar farms, wind turbines and transmission lines, including an in-depth study of how they might harm wildlife and local ecosystems. It’s an important but, at times, painfully slow process, during which the climate crisis keeps getting worse.
>
>There’s also a big difference between federal officials approving a project and that project coming to fruition. I learned as much in 2016, when I scrutinized the Obama administration’s outgoing claim that it had approved 60 energy projects capable of producing more than 15,000 megawatts of climate-friendly power. I determined that only half of them had reached construction or operation, with a total capacity of just 5,100 megawatts.
>
>So it’s great that the Bureau of Land Management — the Interior Department agency tasked with managing nearly 250 million acres, or about one-tenth of the nation’s surface area — announced this week that it’s ready to start studying the environmental impacts of seven solar farms proposed in Nevada’s Esmeralda County, and an eighth in Arizona.
>
>But as far as renewable energy developers are concerned, it’s too early to celebrate. There’s a reason the American Clean Power Assn. — a major trade group for developers — didn’t issue a news release trumpeting this week’s announcement.
>
>“It’s progress,” JC Sandberg, the group’s chief advocacy officer, said in an interview. “More progress needs to be made.”
If you’re interested in getting my columns/news roundups in your inbox twice a week a week, you can sign up here: latimes.com/boilingpoint
1 comment
My latest climate column for the Los Angeles Times…as always, curious what you think! Here’s how it starts:
>On the surface, the Biden administration’s recent announcement that it was forging ahead with more than a dozen renewable energy projects on Western public lands sounded like a big deal.
>
>In some ways, it was. The U.S. Department of the Interior reported important steps forward for 15 solar farms, electric transmission lines and potential geothermal power plants in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah — crucial tools for replacing the coal, oil and fossil natural gas that are fueling deadlier heat waves and polluting our air with dangerous fumes.
>
>“The projects we are advancing today will add enough clean energy to the grid to power millions of homes,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a written statement this week.
>
>Yes, they will — if they ultimately get approved, and then built.It can take many years for federal officials to go through all the required steps to evaluate proposed solar farms, wind turbines and transmission lines, including an in-depth study of how they might harm wildlife and local ecosystems. It’s an important but, at times, painfully slow process, during which the climate crisis keeps getting worse.
>
>There’s also a big difference between federal officials approving a project and that project coming to fruition. I learned as much in 2016, when I scrutinized the Obama administration’s outgoing claim that it had approved 60 energy projects capable of producing more than 15,000 megawatts of climate-friendly power. I determined that only half of them had reached construction or operation, with a total capacity of just 5,100 megawatts.
>
>So it’s great that the Bureau of Land Management — the Interior Department agency tasked with managing nearly 250 million acres, or about one-tenth of the nation’s surface area — announced this week that it’s ready to start studying the environmental impacts of seven solar farms proposed in Nevada’s Esmeralda County, and an eighth in Arizona.
>
>But as far as renewable energy developers are concerned, it’s too early to celebrate. There’s a reason the American Clean Power Assn. — a major trade group for developers — didn’t issue a news release trumpeting this week’s announcement.
>
>“It’s progress,” JC Sandberg, the group’s chief advocacy officer, said in an interview. “More progress needs to be made.”
If you’re interested in getting my columns/news roundups in your inbox twice a week a week, you can sign up here: latimes.com/boilingpoint