LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Small-town clerks, activists, and environmental advocates rose to voice their concerns in a bustling Las Vegas ballroom, but did the federal officials in attendance listen?
That was the question top of mind for some present at the Tuesday night Bureau of Land Management Western Solar Plan update meeting at the Red Rock Casino Resort.
“We are right now currently in the public comment phase for our draft,” Jon Raby, Nevada state director for the Bureau of Land Management, said. “We have a number of days, 60 days, for public comment so folks can give us feedback.”
The draft of the Utility-Scale Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement lists some new updates to the previous 2012 plan such as:
- Include five more states
- Lower project application threshold from 20mw to 5mw
- Remove development limit based on solar intensity
- Add exclusion criteria language
- Update “problematic design features”
A part of the goal of drafts like the Solar Programmatic EIS is to get federal agencies on track for completing a zero-emission electric grid by 2035, an effort charted by the Biden administration.