elkduds
Well-known member
From TRCP:
BLM seeking public input re. solar energy development on western public lands
This is a significant planning effort that will guide where solar energy development occurs in our state and across the West into the coming decades. Please consider participating in the Colorado public meeting and providing comments in-person or online to ensure that solar energy is developed responsibly on BLM-managed lands in a manner that conserves important wildlife populations and big game habitat.
The BLM will host one in-person, public meeting in Colorado on February 9 from 3:00 -7:00 p.m.
Grand Junction Convention Center, in the Whitewater/Kannah Rooms
159 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501
If you are unable to attend that in-person meeting, there will also be one final virtual public meeting on February 13 from 12:30-3:30 p.m. MST.
You must register for the virtual meeting:
REGISTER
Talking points to consider:
BLM seeking public input re. solar energy development on western public lands
This is a significant planning effort that will guide where solar energy development occurs in our state and across the West into the coming decades. Please consider participating in the Colorado public meeting and providing comments in-person or online to ensure that solar energy is developed responsibly on BLM-managed lands in a manner that conserves important wildlife populations and big game habitat.
The BLM will host one in-person, public meeting in Colorado on February 9 from 3:00 -7:00 p.m.
Grand Junction Convention Center, in the Whitewater/Kannah Rooms
159 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501
If you are unable to attend that in-person meeting, there will also be one final virtual public meeting on February 13 from 12:30-3:30 p.m. MST.
You must register for the virtual meeting:
REGISTER
Talking points to consider:
- BLM should maximize incentives for solar projects 5MW or larger to be constructed in discrete areas (not contiguous across large swaths of land) where they’ll have minimal resource impacts, ideally on previously disturbed land close to existing transmission capacity.
- Big game migration habitat should be excluded from solar development.
- Impacts to wildlife habitat from solar projects should be avoided or minimized through project siting and design, and where impacts cannot be avoided, permittees should be required to offset direct and indirect habitat loss by conserving areas nearby.
- BLM should establish a nomination process for hunters and anglers to locally identify high-value areas they consider to be incompatible with solar development.
- Evaluation of the full life cycle of a solar energy project must be done up front to ensure all anticipated impacts are disclosed and addressed.
