Greens Against Green Energy
A couple of weeks ago we wondered if green lobbying groups would object to new Department of Interior rules to streamline environmental approval for solar energy projects on hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land. (“The Solar-Painted Desert,” Aug. 13, 2012.) Well, here we go. Three environmental groups-Western Lands Project, Basin and Range Watch, and Solar Done Right-have filed a formal complaint of the kind that often presages a lawsuit.
The letter of protest to the Bureau of Land Management alleges that the agency “failed to analyze numerous impacts of solar energy plant development within several Solar Energy Zones” and that allowing “industrial-scale solar generation” could result in the “virtual privatization of public lands.”
