After four hours of public comment yesterday, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted against state certification of a necessary Environmental Impact Report for the controversial Soda Mountain Solar Project.

The Supervisors concluded that the Soda Mountain Project—a proposed 287 megawatt plant stretching over 1,700 acres on federal land near the Mojave National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, and Death Valley National Park—would degrade pristine desert with little benefit to the county or local residents. The Supervisors noted that “it is hard to justify damaging sensitive desert lands when we have disturbed lands near transmission corridors that are ideally suited.”

In particular, the project would have significant negative impacts on desert bighorn sheep, an iconic and fully-protected endangered species under state law. Stanford Environmental Law Clinic provided a legal analysis to our client, the National Parks Conservation Association, to show the Board of Supervisors that these significant, unmitigated impacts were unacceptable under state environmental law.

Stanford worked together with the UC Irvine’s Environmental Law Clinic, whose Director, Michael Robinson-Dorn, delivered thoughtful and persuasive comments at the Board of Supervisors hearing yesterday. And while this issue has received national attention and been publicly opposed by many—including 70 noted scientists, former National Parks superintendents and Senator Feinstein—Supervisor Rutherford’s reference to Stanford’s “environmental law clinic memo” in her closing remarks and questions to staff made it clear that the ELC’s analysis played an important role in reaching this result.

State approval under the California Environmental Quality Act was one of the last approvals the Project needed to go forward, having already been approved by the federal Bureau of Land Management last year. The County’s vote will significantly delay or permanently derail this ill-advised development in critical desert habitat.