LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Two conservation groups have submitted a formal protest aimed at stopping a solar project northwest of Las Vegas on land that provides a connection between important habitats for Mojave desert tortoises.
Western Watersheds Project and Basin and Range Watch are protesting the 5,133-acre Bonanza Solar Project, located along U.S. Highway 95 about 70 miles north of Las Vegas, between Indian Springs and the Mercury interchange. The project is on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property.
The groups argue the solar project intrudes on land that has long been seen as a corridor for tortoises to use to move between designated critical habitats…