The Environmental Law Clinic celebrated a big win on November 20, 2014, when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management rejected an application to build a large-scale solar project in a remote, undisturbed part of California’s Mojave Desert.  Clinic student Elizabeth Hook (JD ‘15) authored the most extensive set of public comments on the proposed project on behalf of the clinic’s client, the National Parks Conservation Association.

Silurian Valley, California ©2013 Michael E. Gordon / www.Michael-Gordon.com

The Bureau’s decision is the first time the agency has rejected an application for a “variance” under its Western Solar Plan.  That Plan prioritizes development in designated zones and allows for development outside of those zones only where strict criteria are met.  In rejecting the project, which was proposed by Iberdrola Renewables, the Bureau concluded that the project did not meet the criteria and was not in the public interest.

As the clinic’s comments explained, large-scale renewable energy development is needed to combat climate change, but such development must be balanced against the need to preserve irreplaceable natural and cultural resources.  The lands that Iberdrola had proposed for development were part of the remote Silurian Valley, an unusually intact desert landscape surrounded by three national park units and home to important ecological and cultural resources found in few other places.   The proposed project likely would have fragmented critical habitat, degraded important cultural and historic sites, and impaired one of the last truly wild places in the Mojave Desert.  The Bureau’s decision to reject the proposed solar project will help ensure that large-scale renewable energy development occurs responsibly on federal public lands.

Silurian Valley, California ©2013 Michael E. Gordon / www.Michael-Gordon.com