America: No solar please; thank of the animals!

[kepler]

Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects - NYTimes.com

[fu$e]

Insanity. Do I smell big oil??

[shutit]

Right, so, allowing ecologically rich environments to being raped senseless by the oil and gas industry: no problemo. But, opening solar plants in deserts: OMG, environmentally unthinkable!

[prashamk]

What else?

[macgardener]

We've been heading in the direction of greater use of solar energy for a while, and they suddenly think of studying the environmental impact of it now? Hmm!

Btw am I stupid? What does this mean?

“Reclamation is another big issue,” Ms. Resseguie said. “These plants potentially have a 20- to 30-year life span. How to restore that land is a big question for us.”

[mellow_hendrix]

I reckon Bush was playing in the garden at his ranch and took a magnifying glass to some poor bug. Must have freaked him out big time.

[flashgordon]

Not to sound like I'm in favor of Bush or the current administration, I work on a lot of EPA projects. This is pretty standard stuff. For any project on government lands it is mandated that an environmental impact assessment be done - whether they are putting in solar panels or simply adding to an already exisiting parking lot. In most cases, this is just a waste of tax payer money, but in other cases we have had to completely stop a project because an endangered species was found to reside in the project area.

[hament]

In other news, oil production has been halted worldwide for fear of increasing gas prices.

[include]

The Bureau of Land Management has reversed it’s 22 month moratorium on new applications for solar power development on public lands.

BLM Reverses Solar Moratorium in 6 Western States : Planetsave

Superb

[prashamk]

Originally Posted by flashgordon

Not to sound like I'm in favor of Bush or the current administration, I work on a lot of EPA projects. This is pretty standard stuff. For any project on government lands it is mandated that an environmental impact assessment be done - whether they are putting in solar panels or simply adding to an already exisiting parking lot. In most cases, this is just a waste of tax payer money, but in other cases we have had to completely stop a project because an endangered species was found to reside in the project area.

Its all bullsh*t. Why would one need 22 months' time for the research? Moreover what about the 300 projects that are lined up? What about the money that people have put in these projects? What about the CO2 that would be emitted in the intermittent period? Who's gonna be responsible for all this and much more.

Moreover Don't give me that "stop a project because an endangered species was found" sh*t. I very well remember about the project of building a wall on the border with mexico. Inspite of loads of criticism government has decided to move ahead with the project. And yeah forgot to mention that the border coincides with area where highly endangered species - jaguar is found.