Supervisor opposes massive solar project in San Bernardino County [Updated]

A solar energy project proposed for development on public land in the Mojave Desert would create jobs mostly for Las Vegas and electricity for San Francisco at the expense of the relatively pristine area of east San Bernardino County where it would be built, San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said Friday.

In an interview, Mitzelfelt, whose district includes the Ivanpah Valley project site about 20 miles south of Las Vegas, said BrightSource’s proposed 440-megawatt, 4,000-acre Solar Electric Generating System, “should not go forward.” [Update: An earlier version of this post listed the project as having 100 megawatts.]

The system is among 130 renewable energy applications to build wind and solar projects on more than a million acres of public land under review by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and California Energy Commission. Companies hope to begin construction on about a dozen of those projects by late next year.

State and federal regulators said the BrightSource project is furthest along in the process and could break ground late next year. Conservationists, however, are concerned about its impacts on several rare bat, bird, plant and reptile species including the threatened California desert tortoise.

The development of solar power facilities in the desert has been a top priority of the Obama administration as it seeks to ease the nation’s dependency on fossil fuels and address climate change.

“Obviously, there is a lot of political pressure to get this project expedited and under construction,” Mitzelfelt said. “But its impacts in San Bernardino County and sensitive and scenic Mojave Desert environment are not worth the benefits.”

“I would do everything I could to advance a project that would provide jobs, induce economic investment and increase the tax base in our county,” he said. “This is not that project.”

BrightSource spokesman Keely Wachs disagreed.

"Considering the project has been going through a state and federal environmental review process for more than two years, and will generate 1,000 jobs, $250 million in wages and more than $400 million in local and state tax revenue, we're surprised to see the supervisor's press release," Wachs said in a statement.

"We look forward to meeting with Supervisor Mitzelfelt and his staff," Wachs added, "to clarify any misunderstandings they might have about the Ivanpah project."

-- Louis Sahagun

Comments

[Desert Iguana]

Boondoggle! Big solar needs the feds to hold their hand because the output is so poor.

Salazar approved this by rolling bask every law we had that would insure wildlife, ecosystem protection and keeping some open space in the desert.

The jobs will not go to California, they will go to Las Vegas.

Obama's green energy plan ignores the built environment and trashes old growth ecosystems. The remote nature of these untested boondoggles will insure the use of fossil fuels to keep them running. People driving to and from work. Natural gas backup. Yes, the Ivanpah project will burn tons of natural gas for backup. The polar bears are sweating as we speak.

This was our one chance to go green and the idiots in DC picked the worst possible way to do it. It is a nail in the coffin for solar energy because history will look back at the Ivanpah project, evaluate the low megawatt output and conclude that this was the wrong way to do it. The environmental impacts outweighed the "green" output.

I have listened to the lies of BrightSource at the California Hearings. They did nothing but try to beg to be excluded from most environmental mitigation like brats getting a free handout from the feds! they are not green at all. They are using Becthel to build the thing. Remember Becthel? They forced poor people to buy their drinking water in Peru. Seems fitting that the bad boys of the Bush Administration are now in Obama's corrupt big solar business...

[scheng1]

It is better for the survival of animals and plants once the world starts to use renewable energy, otherwise the pollution will kill them slowly and painfully.
I'm sure those plants and animals in the desert can adapt to solar panels. Sometimes, plants and animals are more adaptable than us, stubborn human beings.

[Tony Alvarado]

I agree with whamo, it should create jobs in the county it is being built in. Perhaps with incentives to the prospective employees to travel the extra distance. But I have a question, why is San Francisco going to benefit from this? Why didn't we take advantage of the governments money and our desert land?

[Sascha]

It is absolutely important that more Solar Projects will be developed all over the world.

[whamo]

They should okay the project, but insist it creates jobs in the county.

[Katy]

What does the asterisk in the headline mean? I looked for the footnote or other reference below which should have been there but couldn't find anything. ???

[Gordon Potik]

Mitzelfelt is either in the Power Companies pocket that supplies the area, or anti jobs for the people in his area, or just oblivious of the needs of the people in the country that would benefit. Oh yes maybe he is just a person of Neanderthal intellect.

[Tom Budlong]

100 MW, in the earlier version, is probably correct. In full sun the project probably generates the 440 MW. But averaged over a year, which includes nights, short winter days, cloudy days, low morning and evening sun angles, the average for solare is commonly 1/4 of the maximum. Hence the 110 MW is a more correct measure of the benefit from the facility.

Of course, the power company will use the 440 figure to make it look better.