Endangered tortoises delay Mojave Desert solar plant

The Obama administration has halted the building of two-thirds of a massive solar project in San Bernardino's Mojave Desert as a new federal assessment found that more than 600 endangered desert tortoises would die as a result of construction.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management assessment this week disputed the estimate by BrightSource Energy, developer of the 392 MW solar thermal plant, that only 38 of the reptiles would be disturbed by construction at the 5.6-square mile Ivanpah Valley site near Primm, Nev. [corrected: an earlier version of this post said 5.6 acres]

Questions concerning the California tortoises highlight the friction between wilderness conservation and the quest for cleaner power. Many environmentalists contend it would be preferable to subsidize smaller solar arrays on commercial and residential rooftops, or on industrial acreage, than offer government loan guarantees to large complexes on wildlands that require transmission lines to transport the electricity to urban areas.

The federal order suspends construction activity on most of the Ivanpah project until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service redrafts a previous scientific opinion on the effect on the tortoise, which may come as soon as next month. The Oakland-based BrightSource recently received a $1.6-billion federal loan guarantee for the project and intends to raise $250 million more after taking the company public.

In a statement, company spokesman Keely Wachs said the new government projections “are not consistent with the actual numbers of tortoise found on the project site. It appears that the largest concentrations of tortoise are outside the project and in areas that we designed the project to avoid."

The BLM's new assessment estimates that more than 3,000 acres of tortoise habitat would eventually be lost as a result of construction, and more than 160 adult tortoises in the project area will have to be captured and moved, in addition to 600 dying as a result of the project.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will use the new estimates to determine whether finishing the project puts the species in jeopardy. If not, the agency is expected to set new limits on how many animals may be killed, injured or harassed.

Environmentalists wanted the energy complex relocated because they said it will harm tortoises. But BrightSource made design changes intended to alleviate environmental concerns.

RELATED:

Ivanpah solar project breaks ground

Army seeks to move 1,100 desert tortoises

California deserts among most imperiled wildlands

-- Margot Roosevelt

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Photo: A federally threatened desert tortoise looks out of its burrow in the Ivanpah Valley in the eastern Mojave Desert. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Joe in Montana]

Greens fighting with the "greeners" what ever happened to Common sense?

[surfdogh2o]

Love the nasty comments from the Republican'ts, the tortoise haters, the pro-developers.

No answer for the 50% transmission losses from this facility. How toxic is the solar collector manufacturing process?

Regardless, every human activity has a negative footprint on our world, especially activity in the US with our egregious oil consumption.

When the tortoises and the polar bears are gone, who will be next? Will it be us?

[Bernard Forand]

I could see an argument for these turtles. Should this solar plant be infested with oily, gaseous,natural gas run offs of drilling and radioactivity probability of pollution. Note that these pollutants can be from afar yet no less an endangerment to consider in their escalations. Yes, there grave concern would be merited. Plant operations and product distribution is by far the least that endangered the turtles. Plant mirror fields have minimal impact and can incorporate the turtles to inhabit within its fields.What this plant would produce is a significant amount of energy with no toxin pollution and reduce the need of a toxin producing generator that will pollute the atmosphere. Soon they would develop respiratory illnesses and eventually die off. Environmentalist have this one wrong. They are attacking the solution to pollution that will only come to increase and destroy the very entities they seek to protect.
Injected into my thoughts is the possibility that there are factors of complicity as to the motivating forces in play here.

[Moira Pitt]

The desert tortoises of the Mojave (and elsewhere) need to take precedence over the solar plant's installation. Tortoises are delightful, innocent, defenseless creatures who inhabited this area long before California became overpopulated. I fully support the promotion of solar power and alternative energies, especially when I read about the greed of big oil as evidenced by their mounting profits. But at the same time, California residents and policymakers need to exercise common sense and compassion, and do everything humanly possible to stop the extinction of yet another species, in this case the endangered desert tortoise. Those who say "damn the tortoises" only further testify to their ignorance, insensitivity, selfishness, and short-sightedness. In contrast, get informed about the tortoise! For starters, you can join me in supporting the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee of Mohave, who have been working for years to protect and save these very vulnerable yet precious reptiles. Extinction is forever. Let's save the tortoises now, while we can.

[Ruth]

Reality Check
No matter what people say and do it is as GOD WILLS IT!!!
And if GOD does not like something he will make it be known!!
Remeber we are all living on a melting pot of a planet, the core of the planet is as hot as the sun and who is protecting us, God!!!

You can do all the wrong you want, but don't forget that when the time come when you are DYING, you can not ask God to forgive you for all the Cruelty that you have inflicted on his Creation he will NOT listen!

[sandcanyongal]

Either the majority of the commenters live in cities or you are misinformed about critical and endangered species. First. How many of you have ever read a National Geographic, Nature or Audubon magazine? How many of you can spot the Milky Way if you saw it in a dark sky or have ever seen satellites zooming across the sky at dusk and dawn? How many of you have ever camped, walked in a forest or ever seen a flock of birds in the sky? Do any of you know why bees are important? City people are retarded about nature and should recuse themselves from commenting on deep topics like the environment. The Mojave Desert tortoises are not renewable and will not spring back. Ivanpah is only one of many fronts where their survival is threatened. Google mojave desert tortoise and fort irwin. They are the most wreckless and dangerous entity to the future of the tortoises...and for what. So our soldiers can be trained better to kill more people in countries whose names we cannot pronounce?

When a species goes extinct the last one dies alone in a cage in a zoo.

[Jay]

Maybe the environmentalists should pay for the moving of the turtles and acerage for them to live on.
Or maybe, they should pay for the loss to the consumer for the delays to the project, if any.
Or, pay the contracters for any delays they might caused.
They are full of ideas which "someone else" has to pay for. Maybe they should pay their own way instead of continually causing trouble.
It was a fish, then an owl, a snake and now turtles.
They wish to save the animals and the people who are busting a gut trying to make a living are the ones that suffer.
UP with PEOPLE - DOWN with Tommy the TURTLE.

[Bernard Forand]

LOL Talk about strange bed fellows. Environmentalist in bed with the Gaseous Oily Party {GOP]. Consider the environmental damage that the Oil and Gas refineries contribute with their spills and combustible exhaust. Amount of reduction for the need of oil and gasses. I know those pesky turtles can be sooo difficult to catch and redistributed. Even amongst the plants mirror arrays. That would give them a chance to a little shade. Next oil catastrophe will decimate far more than what they are now fanatically trying to protect. Can not fathom that they lack that intelligence. Suspect there are weeds in this environmental garden. Weeds that thrive on oily substances.
I do agree, would be nice to decentralize sources of energies. Infants of new energies must first be able to break the egg shell before that will be a competitive strategy. This delay is nothing more than not allowing the incubation of the chick to grow and mature. Once matured far more chicks can be had. Chicks that would be far more nurturing to these turtles. Status of oily energies will soon come to destroy the nutrients for these turtles and poof all gone with one oil spill or exhaust pollutants.

[Lulu]

How ignorant some are!! This is BIG business at it once again. Building huge solar plants to sell the little guy what already comes from the sun for free. I think I'll get my own solar panels and side with the tortoises. Also, they burrow so you won't be seeing much of them.

[glenn grab]

this kind of reminds me of the Shiites and the Sunnis fighting amongst themselves....two groups of self-rightious zealots, who will do and say anything to get their way...funny to see two groups who are on the liberal side of things duking it out!!

[glenn grab]

well, about time, environmentalists getting some of their own medicine...welcome to the world of ridiculous lawsuits!!...this is your "delta smelt"...kind of ironic, isn't it??

[Graham]

How many riggs would be pumping right now if oil was there?? Makes you wounder eh! So many families hurting all over the US and constuction halted on this project! 600 tortoises in 5.6 sq miles??? Really!! They must be crossing I15 through a tunnel eh!I'm an avid hiker and lover of all things great and small...but come on!! Lets get this project moving

[HUNGRY]

YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT TORTOISES WHAT ABOUT 700 OR MORE CHILDREN GOING HUNGRY BECAUSE THERE PARENTS WILL BE OUT OF A JOB SO WHATS MORE IMPORTANT THINK ABOUT THAT??

[foobar]

The utilities themselves admit that 50% of the power is lost in transmission. But putting solar on everyone's rooftop means less $$$ for them. Hmmm. I wonder why the utilities prefer "big solar" which destroys our deserts with these ugly plants, and destroys all our mountain passes with transmission towers.

[syscom3]

How come the critics of this plan overlook the obvious:
1) Most of the tortises will recover after the plant is built.
2) There's already a couple of large casino's on the Nevada side of this valley. Forget about pristine. It hasnt been that way for decades.
3) How come the enviornwhacko's neglect to mention the 700,000 acre's of desert right next door to this valley?

[Jenn]

There is no way a project of this scale can be built in urban areas as suggested by commentators. This is CSP (concentrated solar power) as mentioned- the solar power is sent to a steam turbine and in turn the power is created and amplified. This is not a photovoltaic system- as some of you seem to think. A solar plant of this type generates far more power- and needs more land to do it. An environmentalist myself I am resigned to the fact that there is no perfect solution. Would you prefer oil, coal or nuclear? Wind- oh wait, that's bad too. Yes this is Chevron- but would you prefer they be building more filthy stacks? And though I do respect the desert habitiat- the simple fact remains that there are far fewer creatures that will be affected in a remote desert location. Those of you crying foul should ask yourself- after the (nuclear) tradegies of late- tortoise or human? This won't wipe out the population and conservation efforts can be stepped up for this species specifically. Its either that or all of you dedicated environmentalist can help towards a solution- and turn off your PCs.

[Phil Seymour]

It seems that we are being misled in thinking that Jon Marvel and the Western Watersheds Project is an environmental protection organization, when it it actually a mining company posing as such.

The lawyers on both sides of the hundreds of obstructionist legal filings by this organization are the only animals who stand to benefit.

[FarEastLA]

Concentrated solar plants are not a smart way to go anyway. Plenty of solar can be acquired within "civilization" and be decentralized to property owner ownership - which should be the goal for all but SCE, et al.

[Clara B. Jones]

Good for Obama; there is an imperative to consider all costs and benefits, including ethical ones, before interfering with stability of ecosystems. The attached article is but one example of the arrogance and sense-of-privilege resulting from extreme self-interest.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/aboriginal+claim+constitutional+right+kill+sell+bald+eagles/4686381/story.html

[jschwartzny]

NOW we have a problem. What would John Muir do? A tortoise, a hare or green energy. Call the annointed one quick

[Paul Taylor]

Green gone wrong... again.
Green-obsessed bureaucrats and militant eco-groups have become an "axis of antagonism" that we can no longer afford. Enviros offer no product or service in support of our future security and prosperity.
ECOPOLITICS

[Zexufang]

Wow this must be a liberal’s nightmare; the tortoise “nature” lovers battle the “global warming” eco-greens.

Who will win?
As always... follow the money.

For I am certain that somewhere on a lonely California beach there is a cadre of sandal wearing, bongo playing lawyers being summoned to do legal battle by their pay masters.

Damn the turtles full (solar) steam ahead.

[Ferv888]

If stupid was snow, the Obama administration would be a blizzard. How much money did we just throw away here? This is the most incompetent administration ever and I bought my second home during the idiocy of the Carter Presidency, so I have something really dumb to compare this to

Add this fiasco in the desert to what the EPA did to Shell in Alaska the other day. Shell has spent better than 4 billion dollars to develop an offshore field with 27 billion barrels of oil. EPA pulled the permit because Shell did not include the footprint of an icebreakers polluting contribution in their Enviro study. Really, this area of drilling has no permanent population and the closest village of 200 people is 70 miles away.

Now think who is going to pay for this lunacy, one through tax money thrown away with the solar and us again at the Shell pump when they factor their costs to find oil(which they did) against the price needed to make dirty word called profit. how do you spell stupid? OBAMA, no us for having elected this leftist.

[Raul X. Garcia]

Hello folks, these are not solar panels, these are solar reflectors directing sunlight to a collector which in turn creates heat to drive a steam turbine.

Try setting one of these up in a parking lot or a deserted commercial lot. They need clear skies and as much sunlight as possible to be effective.

[syscom3]

Only Obama has the audacity to tell us we need to go solar, and at the same time, stop the construction of them.

This is what you get from a community organizer from Chicago.

[Major Variola (ret)]

Drop lettuce in the desert. It will replenish the population. Do not do so much of this that they become dependent, like welfare turtles.

The turtles put up with endless harshness --that's their niche. Surely humans can build them a few shelters, water holes, lettuce drops, without screwing with their genetic robustness.

[save the deserts!]

first of all, the so-called "environmentalists" are all for this horrible project, even as the facts have become clearer and clearer to everyone that it is basically a giant blender for juvenile tortoises. those of us who bothered to educate ourselves have always opposed this in favor of local, non-deadly solutions within the built environment. so, please believe, the Big Brand Enviros are not behind this finding. You know who is? THE PROJECT DEVELOPER and the BLM, both of whom are desperately in favor of this mess. they are the ones doing the revised count.

and guess who the project developer is? Bright Source aka Chevron, BP, Statoil, Morgan Stanley and Google, with war profiteer Bechtel doing the massive grading and industrial construction. so the white knights of solar power turn out to be the same ugly villains doing the same destructive, overpriced damage they always do. big surprise. sure, they enlisted the Greenwash Teams (Sierra Club, NRDC, Wilderness Society, CBD) to do massive PR about "clean" energy, saving the planet, etc. but the truth is coming out finally - Big Solar is not green at all. it is dirty, slow, deadly and expensive. We don't need it and we don't want it.

and for all you "tortoise experts" (sarcasm) THIS IS PRIME TORTOISE HABITAT, some of the best, and most of their habitat has been destroyed. so yes, there is decent population density here, but that is because it's not paved and ruined like 80% of their habitat already is. or at least it wasn't till now.

and juvenile tortoises live about 75% of the time UNDER GROUND to avoid heat and predation, so just because you don't see them swarming when you rip down the 15 at 80 mph, that doesn't mean they aren't there and they aren't going to get crushed and ground up by the heavy equipment. they are.

Bright Source's Ivanpah project is, was, and always will be a lousy idea.

[Mark Allen]

Really? 600 tortoises killed during construction on that small of an area specifically selected to avoid them. I read the construction is also designed to minimally disturb the environment and special care taken to avoid any tortoises. How if these animals are endangered could there be so many killed on such a small area in such a short amount of time? The desert must crawling with them to achieve these statistics. I would argue that if these numbers are correct the tortoises are no longer endangered. Typical nonsense logic employed while oil prices reach record levels.

Perhaps the oil industry is at play here, just seems too silly to be actual environmentalists.

[Tess Parsons]

The science of ecology is very clear. Man exists only because of the Earth's natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. The land in question, stated in this article, is an ecosystem, and the desert tortoise is biodiversity, a strand in the web of all life.

The new alternative energies should never be allowed to kill ecosystems and biodiversity as this defeats the objectives of reducing man's carbon print and saving a stable climate. The regulation and moderation of the climate as well as the sequesteration of C02 and methane are naturally listed as, "ecosystem services". Terrestrial ecosystems are also the planet's natural water factories.

Upon disturbance of the soil and the deforestation of the natural, plant biodiversity in this desert ecosystem, many pounds of heat trapping gases will be released into the atmosphere, and the climate will dry out and heat up. The National Academy of Sciences compares the extinctions of both animal and plant biodiversity as a threat to man and civilization, right up there with the threat of global, thermonuclear war.

Alternative energies consume vast tracts of land while producing low energy yield, especially windmills. Originally, alternatives were engineered to be constructed where people actually live. Why not resort to recycling abandoned buildings, old factories, strip malls, rooftops and cities, anywhere but the Earth's life giving and sustaining ecosystems and their animal and plant biodiversity, the bricks, mortar and foundation of man's only house, the Earth.

[Cheese_Wonton]

Better places exist for these solar projects south of the San Gabriel Mountains. Put these solar arrays in the dry beds of the former Upper and Lower Van Norman Reservoirs, the bed of the former Chatsworth Reservoir, the land immediately adjacent to the DWPs Sun Valley Generating Station, land around Hansen Dam that is not subject to flooding, and on land fills around the city.
Then put solar panels over every public parking lot, on top of public buildings and on major warehouses. Put the generating capacity where it is going to be used and miminize the disruption to the desert.

[djack80]

Typical environmentalist position on anything. they will not be happy till mankind has a massive dieoff and we are all living in caves. As an outdoorsman, I am always amazed at the numbers that they put up for each of their "flavor of the week" endangered species. 600 will die? No wonder they get little or no respect from anyone.

[James Davis]

Recently a power house was constructed outside Las Vegas. The desert tortoise was of concern for this site as well. As a result proper precautions were taken and the official count of turtle fatalities remains at zero.

It's in the same ball park of putting a pool in your back yard. If you ask the government, 90% of the dogs you have on your property will die during or after construction.

Seriously though , 600 doesn't even sound like a real number. I've driven around this area several times and I failed to see 1. And it's not like your on the job and kill any tortoise you see. In fact policy on projects like this require all workers in the area to stop working, notify their supervisor, and stay away from the animal. If anyone is caught within 100 feet of it they get terminated.