Obama Solar Energy Plan Aims to Speed up Permitting Process

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

The Obama Administration has released a sweeping environmental plan for solar energy projects in California’s Mojave Desert and five other western states that aims to expedite the permitting process while protecting sensitive lands and endangered wildlife.

The Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, released Tuesday, marks what the Departments of Interior and Energy are calling a “historic milestone” in the nation’s effort to accelerate renewable energy projects. It is the first-ever roadmap for large-scale solar energy development on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

“Renewable energy development on federal lands is essential to reaching our national clean energy goals,” said Arthur L. Haubenstock, vice president of regulatory affairs at San Francisco-based Brightsource Energy Inc., which is building the 392-megawatt Ivanpah solar complex near the California-Nevada border, about 50 miles northwest of Needles.