The timing no doubt was coincidence, but while Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was celebrating the country's largest solar project in California, two U.S. senators were introducing legislation to protect desert landscapes in the state.
The irony wasn't lost on the National Parks Conservation Association, which has questioned the location of the solar farm.
“There is a lot of celebrating today in the California desert. Senator Feinstein released the California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act and Sally Jewell flipped the on-switch at Desert Sunlight Solar plant. The confluence of these events highlights the important work that remains to be done in the California desert," said David Lamfrom, NPCA's California Desert associate director. "That includes permanently protecting some of the most beautiful and vibrant lands in America and the continued need to do a better job of siting renewable energy away from species-rich lands. Considering how important our national parks and protected lands are to our desert economy, finding this balance now is fundamental.”
Earlier Monday, the Interior secretary and the director of the Bureau of Land Management Neil Kornze joined California state and industry leaders to “flip the switch” on the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm. Now operating at full capacity, the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is providing 550 megawatts of electricity to the grid, enough energy to power 160,000 average homes. The facility is estimated to displace 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year – the equivalent to taking 60,000 cars off the road.
“Solar projects like Desert Sunlight are helping to create American jobs, develop domestic renewable energy and cut carbon pollution,” said Secretary Jewell. “I applaud the project proponents for their vision and entrepreneurial spirit to build this solar project and commend Governor Brown for implementing policies that take action on climate change and help move our nation toward a renewable energy future.”
Desert Sunlight is the sixth solar project approved on public lands that is now operational. Together with wind, solar and geothermal, the renewable energy projects built on public lands since 2009 are producing over 2,200 megawatts of power, or enough to power almost 700,000 average homes. An additional 2,500 megawatts is currently under construction, including eight solar projects in California and Nevada.
Desert Sunlight is located on about 4,100 acres managed by the BLM in Riverside County, about 70 miles east of Palm Springs and six miles north of the rural community of Desert Center. The facility uses more than eight million First Solar photovoltaic modules to generate power with no air emissions, no waste production and no water use. The thin film technology has the smallest carbon footprint of any photovoltaic technology. The renewable energy is sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Edison under long-term contracts.
As part of the Interior Department’s commitment to responsible development of renewable energy, the Desert Sunlight project underwent extensive environmental review and mitigation. The BLM worked in close coordination with Desert Sunlight, the National Park Service and other stakeholders to significantly reduce the proposed project’s total footprint down from the proposed 19,000 acres. The BLM is requiring that Desert Sunlight provide funding for acquisition and enhancement of more than 7,500 acres of suitable habitat for desert tortoise and other sensitive wildlife species to help mitigate the project’s potential impacts.
Also on Monday, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both California Democrats, introduced legislation that would expand by 75,000 acres the Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks.
“This piece of legislation is the final chapter in a long effort to preserve one of the most magnificent landscapes in the United States,” Sen. Feinstein said. “We must ensure that critical parts of the California desert—with its mountain vistas, bighorn sheep, mule deer, desert tortoises, Joshua trees, Native American petroglyphs and much more—will be protected for all time.”
Comments
Thanks, Rick. I am sure a few of us will take you up on that. Getting rid of us will be your only problem!
Some suggest Business Ethics have no place in calculating the "bottom line", so,
when you shop at Walmart, are You saying Business Ethics have No Value ?
Consider How Walmart Discounted Ethics May 7, 2012
Its Mexican bribery scandal shows the perils of bowing to local "custom"
Also: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2113176,00.html
and http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0081
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~davpy35701/text/walmart-long.pdf
https://leaderswedeserve.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/walmart-faces-ethical-...
Real-World Examples of Bad Business Ethics
Reputation is a company’s biggest asset so you would think companies would avoid engaging in shady business practices. However, many large corporations find their reputations and credibility destroyed due to practices that are harmful and illegal.
Agree. And I would never condone illegal. "Harmful" can be subjective. Is it unethical or even harmful to export a job? I think not. Especially when by exporting that job you can offer your customers a superior product at a lower price.
Alfred, you are absolutely correct in almost everything you say there. I still believe (or at least hope) that most people are basically honest. But I really worry about those who have sold themselves to the highest bidders. The Great American Entitlement Mentality is a large part of the ugliness and I truly believe that the feeling to Entitlement is greatest among those at the top of the economic heap. I also believe -- based upon my own experiences -- that the most honest and trustworthy people are the humble ones near the bottom of the heap.
What's happening in America today is pathetic.
Our national parks and all the challenges they face are only a tiny microcosm of a much bigger, wretchedly fettid swamp of sewage.
Yes, we are all trapped by THE SYSTEM. Worse yet is that we continue to enable THE SYSTEM that entraps us.
Brian Williams is a tragedy. Unfortunately, he is only one out of thousands or perhaps even millions of similar tragedies.
Again, all I can do is try to speak out against what I believe is wrong and in favor of what I believe is right. But I -- and the rest of us -- also need to recognize that we have a moral obligation to look beyond our preconceived notions to seek whatever truth might be out there. Sometimes the best experiences a person can have are those times when they suddenly realize that they have been mistaken and have an opportunity to correct the mistake.
Lee, I think you should start here: "I truly believe that the feeling to Entitlement is greatest among those at the top of the economic heap."
People at the top didn't get there by sitting on their behinds and waiting for someone to hand it to them.
No, many of them used cheating, influence peddling and purchasing, and other ugly methods to reach the top regardless of who they may have had to use or trample along the way. Now that they are at the top, they will do anything necessary to remain there. Only rarely are they caught -- as were our two recent Utah Attorneys General and some of their contributors.
May I be so bold as to suggest that perhaps you might start looking for your own mistakes? They shouldn't be too hard to find. ;=}
That's effort. You may not like their methods. But making an effort is not :"feeling to entitlement" And probably they are "rarely" caught because those that have used illegal methods are an infintesimal share of those that have made it to the top. Sorry, I am not inclined to condemn an entire class (upper or lower) based on the malfeasance of a few.
Perhaps you would like to point them out. Just make sure they are things I actually said or did, as opposed to your fantasy strawmen, and substantiate they are mistakes. With those two requirements, I don't expect you to comply anytime soon.
Why bother? You'll dodge. Besides, the list would be so long I'd be up all night typing.
But how about taking time to do some reading? Y'might find those "strawmen" aren't made of straw after all.
Try this one for starters:
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Articles-on-Christian-Science/2011/...
Read it all. Every word.