JUL 03

It seems like the more obvious question isn't being asked: why the hell does the government own all of this land to begin with? If this many solar plants are being built on government land, then it sounds to me like the government owns too much land.

The government owns ALL land not owned by someone else...

That doesn't make any sense. It's not like there is a shortage of people willing to buy the land. Government ownership of land should be limited to small environmentally-critical areas, not encompass barren land big enough for dozens of power plants.

This backlash against the BLM is completely unwarranted. All they said was that they were not accepting new applications for solar projects on government land because they already had a whopping pile of them to swim through. Did they say that no solar projects would be approved? NO. Did they say that no solar projects could be undertaken on private land? NO. The moratorium was set to last only two years, during which time the backlog would be cleared. If only a portion of the existing applications were approved in that time, we would still be looking at a significant increase in solar generating capacity in addition to full-scale demonstration of emerging technologies.

People think of the desert as a vast, endless sandbox. That could not be further from the truth. The desert is a unique eco-system just like any forest, wetland, grassland, or coastal region...and it is just as fragile. I suppose you would prefer that the BLM just rubber-stamp every application for a hair-brained idea to generate solar energy? What you would end up with in 10 years are miles upon miles of desert eco-system destroyed by roads and transmission lines from failed solar start-ups. I, for one, think the BLM is doing the right thing by taking the time to ensure that these applications have merit and that they are taking sufficient measures to protect desert eco-systems. Solar energy is coming into it's own, but it's not going to happen overnight, and we shouldn't completely ignore all other concerns in the rush to advance the technology.

Regarding the rate at which the BLM processes applications...they're doing the best they can with the resources at their disposal. It's easy to sit back and say, "Add more people!!!". Democrats and Republicans alike have had great success getting elected with similar proposals...just increase the size of government. Well, someone has to pay for that increase (tax and spend) and as anyone in the corporate world knows, you just can't staff new positions overnight even if the funding is available.

I suppose if the BLM announced a moratorium on permits for oil and natural gas exploration, the eco-chic crowd would hail it as a major achievement. As the saying goes, you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time. What's left out of that saying is that group of people who cannot be pleased ANY of the time...I think they call themselves 'environmentalists'. Let's be fair to the BLM. They've got a big job to do and they're doing the best they can.

This demonstrates the flaw in sensationalizing every piece of news for political purposes. The moratorium was likely a reasonable response to the situation of having a huge backlog... no benefit in having an even larger pile of applications sitting unread. The Eco press jumped on it and spun it as some last gasp stab at the earth by the outgoing Bush administration, rather than focusing on the less sensational story that the BLM needs to ramp up its staffing in this area. By doing so, it's left an easy out... simply undue the moratorium, which wasn't really a problem in the first place.

In this case the Eco-pundits got exactly what they were implicitly or explicitly calling for... with no real benefit.

Can EcoGeek please read the entire sources before misleading the public again? Thanks.

In case you didn't know, not ALL of your general audience wants to be put down the path of:
Your hopes will be struck down -> It's Bush's fault -> Why is no one in the government like us! -> There's no hope

Stop doing it. I'll read the real sources and not the spin from now on, thanks.

Sadly, Solar Energy has never been cost effective. It costs too much and produces too little. Wind power is the best bang for the buck hands down.

JT
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com

Solar Energy has become cost effective. Look up thin cell solar cells. Look up the company named Nanosolar. They are producing competitive cells without the need for government subsidization. It really is interesting how far solar cells have come.

The BLM is the winner of the SAOTD. This should have been given when the original announcement was made. Better late than never.

http://r-u-stupid.blogspot.com

Check this solution out. Maybe they could try this one.
http://www.enviromission.com.au/project/project.htm

Mad Marcus, you are a government employee trying to backpeddle.

This backlash against the BLM is completely unwarranted. All they said was that they were not accepting new applications for solar projects on government land because they already had a whopping pile of them to swim through

What a load of hogwash, typical of the Bush Administration

I think you are misunderstanding the vastness of our country. If you ever spend any time in the west, states such as Montana(the eastern part is a bit more relavent to what i am talking about) or Utah. You will immediately understand why the government has so much land. There is a huge amount of land there, and its all barren wasteland. Well, to some it is a pristine wilderness, but if you ever visit, you will quickly realize why no one wants the land.
Furthermore, the reason no one is buying this land is because it is cheaper for these companies to lease it from the government than to purchase what they would need.

Now before you get your panties in a bind Im not a Bush fan or even a pro big government. Why must everything be the "Bush Administrations" fault? :- Really I think people who think this are really funny. Congress holds the real power for those of you who are not aware of our constitution or how our government works. :o Did Bush personally hire every civil servant? ;) That would be hogwash doubtful at best. Could the BLM be overworked or lazy sure. I think we can be happy with more solar and wind farms as we are in desperate need of clean energy. ;D

All the comments above show a complete lack of common sense. The BLM is an agency that responds to top down pressure just like the scientific departments that changed their global warming "facts" to suit Cheney after those behind closed door, away from public scruitiny energy meetings with the oil companies that are now reaping billions from the fact that we don't have much solar.

All that's needed is a high level meeting or two to set down some ground rules for approval and it would only take a couple site visits and a few hours on the plans to approve each site. Sorry, people but I've done plenty of these and foot dragging is the norm, not the exception. If you don't think that big oil/coal/NG had their hand in this, you're as blind as a freakin' bat! I've closely watched the games this Bush administration (and the last two presidents as well) has played with the solar industry, even into our two neighboring countries and seeing all those timelines laid out in front of you would cause a riot on DC. ....that is if people could wake up and turn their damn brains on.

I commend articles such as this because they bring light to at least some of the flat out corruption inherant in our illustrious government. (I would rather favor regional 'peer review' approvals by the locals as to whether a plant goes in or not.) And lastly, please stop calling everyone against anything fossil related an envirowacko! Some of us are putting our life savings, and every spare moment of time trying to save your a$$ in the next decade when your sorry butt has run out of oil and the mass panic begins. Being a good steward to the Earth is just an added benefit that feels good too.

It only applied to 6 states on government land, not the entire US. Why do you feel the need to make stuff up? How can we trust anything you put up now?

Solar power has had problems with efficiency in the past, but as the anonymous poster pointed out, Nanosolar and many other companies are making remarkable advancements in solar cell technologies. SolFocus is another company that has made solar more cost-effective with their Concentrator PV system.

It is time to get real and stop blaming the Bush administration for every perceived problem. Solar, wind, ocean (tide and current), geothermal, hydro and other alternative technologies are needed to balance our power supply. However, these installations need the same careful environmental considerations that are given to Oil, Gas, Coal, Mineral and other natural resource exploration and exploitation. You cannot have it both ways, to enforce strict environmental review for one group and not the other.

These solar start-ups are talking about building on large stretches of untouched pristine land. They will need to build roads, electric and other infastructure across fragile ecosystems. Arguments used against the oil, gas and other exploration companies are that we need detailed environmental analysis regarding such infastructure before permitting, the same should hold true for these new solar enterprises.

To require anything less is hypocrisy at the very least.

In President Bush's State of the Union Address, delivered Jan 31, 2006, he called for and introduced budget for solar, wind, coal and hydrogen research. The congress passes the budget, not the president.

The amounts given were increases (usually 15%) over the previously budgeted amounts.

The largest single item requested was $1.2 Billion for hydrogen fuel-cell research.

And, the man practices what he preaches. Look at Snopes for a description of the energy design and use at the Crawford Ranch. http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

You have to leave your head tucked deep in the sandpit of ignorance to make the non-analysis of the Bush energy plans. And, by the way, in 2005 he released the first Energy Plan that had been done for several years.

Check out the chart near the bottom of this blog... http://hughhewitt.townhall.com...e#comments

Mad Marcus, have you spent any time traversing the American SouthWest? It's 1000 gazillion square miles of... dirt. Sure, there's cattle grazing land, and buttes, and sorrels, and canyons. And a few indigenous species on the flat lands, like scorpions and rattlesnakes. Construct 100 sites with 10 square miles each of solar panel arrays, and away we go. The scorpions and rattlers will love the daytime shade.

Has anyone here ever pursued permits to build anything? In perspective, 22 months isn't bad.

It's 22 months before they can even consider looking at a project then the wait begins! This was potencially a way to kill certain projects and hinder the development of many more. Fortunatly many spoke up and got it back on track.

Charles Precht
Sustainable Design
www.sustainablehomeplans.com