Renewable Energy Industry CEO looks to the future

Suggests government policy/subsidies – not free market – give wildlife conflicting, utility-scale projects an edge over distributed generation

Desert Tortoise © Dr. Michael Connor, WWP

NRG Energy CEO David Crane, lead investor in the controversial Ivanpah Solar Thermal Energy Project, discusses why giant utility-scale renewable energy projects are economically viable and what the future might look like for renewables with a reduction of government subsidies:

NRG Energy’s CEO Discusses Q4 2010 Results – Earnings Call Transcript – Seeking Alpha

[We] fully recognize that the current generation of utility-sized solar and wind projects in the United States is largely enabled by favorable government policies and financial assistance.  It seems likely that much of that special assistance is going to be phased out over the next few years, leaving renewable technologies to fend for themselves in the open market.  We do not believe that this will be the end of the flourishing market for solar generation.  We do believe it will lead to a stronger and more accelerated transition from an industry that is currently biased towards utility-sized solar plants to one that’s focused more on distributed and even residential solar solutions on rooftops and in parking lots.

BLM told by public not to develop western oil shale

It’s a dirty and marginal source of fossil fuel energy-

Oil sands of Alberta are bad enough, but they look good compared to Western oil shale. Its development will produce little, if any, net energy,  while leaving much waste and giant pits. It takes a lot of water too, and the deposits are in the driest part of the United States.

BLM hearing in Salt Lake City sees much opposition to oil shale. Salt Lake Tribune. By Brandon Loomis.

BLM halts some construction at Ivanpah Power Plant

Threshold Number of ESA Protected Desert Tortoise Killed In Construction of Solar Thermal Plant

We just received notice that the BLM has suspended construction of some of the the Ivanpah Solar Thermal Power Plant due to the project reaching its upper limit number of tortoise killed for the Biological Opinion and incidental take limits established in approving the project.

BLM halts some construction at Ivanpah Power Plant – Decision

Ivanpah solar project could displace 140 tortoises

Previous estimate was 32-38

The Bureau of Land Management has increased the estimate of how many desert tortoises will be displaced by the Ivanpah solar plant in southern California just southwest of Las Vegas. The previous estimate was that there would only be 32-38 tortoises displaced by the development. They now estimate that there will be 140 of the endangered tortoises displaced by the 5.6 square mile development. The new estimate has required the BLM to seek new consultations with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Previous attempts at moving tortoises to new locations have resulted in half of the tortoises dying and similar number of resident tortoises dying at the relocation site due to displacement. If this relocation effort has similar results then it would result in 140 dead tortoises.

Tortoises are long living creatures that mature at age 15 and can live up to 80 years or more. They have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980’s due to habitat destruction and increased predation by ravens which thrive in areas where they previously didn’t because of human trash and livestock which die or leave birthing materials in the spring. They also are illegally collected by people who want them as pets. Land development, such as BrightSource’s Ivanpah solar plant, are also becoming threats to their survival.

Read more about Ivanpah

Ivanpah solar project could displace 140 tortoises.
The Press Enterprise

Natural gas drilling proposal in Wyoming Range gets 40,000 comments!!

Wyoming folks love the Wyoming Range and fear fracking-

An unprecedented number of comments came in on the Plains Exploration & Production Co.’s (PXP) plan for up to 136 gas wells south of Bondurant near Noble Basin. Most of the Wyoming and adjacent Salt River Range has been withdrawn from oil and gas leasing/drilling by act of Congress, but the PXP leases slipped through before the leasing was shut down by the Wyoming Range Legacy Act.

My experience in the Noble Basin and adjacent area is of some of the finest elk and moose country in Wyoming.  A domestic sheep beleagered bighorn sheep herd is nearby. The huge number of comments seem to have strengthened the views of new Wyoming governor Matt Mead on the subject of drilling, after maybe fracking the area.

Wyoming Range drilling project garners 40,000 comments. By Environment & Energy Daily in WyoFile.

Diesel Use in Gas Drilling Cited as Violation of Safe-Water Law

The practice of fracking, or hydraulic fracture drilling has been a highly damaging practice wherever it is used and now Congress is asking the EPA to take a harder look.

Diesel Use in Gas Drilling Cited as Violation of Safe-Water Law.
New York Times

Local megaload opposition relents on first 4 megaloads

Opponents of the megaloads drop fight on the first four-

Having lost before the Idaho Department of Transportation, opponents of the oil megaloads will no longer try to stop the first four of them.  These are bound for the existing oil refinery in Billings, Montana. The next 200 megaloads (not approved for now) are for what many see as the tar sand pits from hell in Alberta, Canada.

Movement of the first four should reveal much about who is right about them?  Will the loads have great difficulty getting up the highway and over Lolo Pass?  Will there be an accident?  Will they be safely parked during the day, or will they end up blocking traffic? Will the megaloads harm the highway surface or warp the bridges?  Will the megaloads generate any local employment beyond a few people holding signs and public revenues going to pay for highway patrol escorts?

Idaho megaload opponents: Let big rigs roll to Billings. By Kim Briggeman of Missoulian. missoulian.com

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Feb. 1, 2011 update. As Megaloads Roll, What Two of Three Plaintiffs Learned About Opposition. New West (feature article). By Steve Bunk.  New West has done an outstanding job covering the megaloads issue. This is their latest feature article.

I was particularly impressed with this quote in the article, “Referring to state troopers who accompany megaloads through Idaho, Laughy remarked, ‘I find it particularly interesting that our state could be contracting out our police to the South Korean government.’ ”  I say it’s a good example what happens when we (the United States) are well on our way to being a colony of the corporations of other parts of the world (thanks to the work of people like provincial governor Butch Otter).

WWP, CBD and 3 Tribes fight Spring Valley Wind Project

Suit Filed to Protect One of Nevada’s Largest Bat Roosts, National Park

For immediate release – January 25, 2011

Contacts:	Jon Marvel, Executive Director Western Watersheds Project, 208.788.2290
	Rob Mrowka, Center for Biological Diversity, 702.249.5821

LAS VEGAS, Nev – Two conservation groups and three Indian Tribes filed suit today to protect a pristine mountain valley adjacent to Great Basin National Park in Nevada from a poorly-sited 8000 acre industrial wind energy project, approved by the Department of the Interior with minimal environmental review. The valley is home to rare and imperiled wildlife such as the greater sage grouse, and sensitive species including golden eagles and free-tailed bats. The project area is also a sacred site to Western Shoshone Tribes.

“We hope this litigation will lead the federal government to choose less damaging locations for wind power developments,” said Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project.

“Renewable energy is nationally and globally important for addressing the growing threats from climate change,” said Rob Mrowka, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the parties in the suit. “But, renewable projects must be properly located with careful consideration of the values of not only the site but also of the surrounding area”.

On October 15, 2010 the Bureau of Land Management approved a proposal by Spring Valley Wind, LLC, a subsidiary of Pattern Energy of San Francisco, to construct the project on public lands in northeastern Nevada just north of Great Basin National Park. BLM approved the project over the objections of state and federal wildlife officials, nearby tribes, and conservation groups. Rather than carrying out a detailed review involving the preparation of an environmental impact statement, BLM instead prepared only a cursory environmental assessment.

“The best ways to avoid negative impacts of renewable energy projects are to carry out a thorough environmental review and site them carefully. Unfortunately, in this case BLM did neither,” noted Mrowka.

WWP Sues to Stop Fast Tracked Ivanpah Power Plant in California

Endangered Desert Tortoise Further Imperiled by Remote Solar Plant

Female desert tortoise resting on the apron of her burrow about to get a power plant built on her doorstep. (2010) © Michael J. Connor

For several months we’ve been covering the progress of the, now approved, solar power plant at Ivanpah near Las Vegas on the California side of the Nevada/California border. Initial construction has begun and biologists have rounded up as many desert tortoises as they can to prepare the site for what essentially amounts to sterilization. In past studies where desert tortoises had been moved, half of them died while an equal number of tortoises at the site where they were moved to were subsequently displaced and died.

The energy company BrightSource Energy says that they want to mitigate the loss of the desert tortoise by restoring Castle Mountain Venture land and mining claims in an area to the north and add them to the Mojave National Preserve. This is all well and good but the lands are very poor desert tortoise habitat and would not compensate for the habitat lost due to the destruction that the new solar plant will cause.

It’s hard to call a project like this “green” when there is no corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas emitting coal or natural gas power plants and when the habitat destruction being caused further imperils the endangered desert tortoise and other species. This project keeps power generation in the hands of big corporations at the expense of taxpayers who would benefit more from subsidized use of less environmentally damaging rooftop solar.

One article, by the solar industry news site Solar Novus Today, about the lawsuit editorializes about the solar plant this way:

“One begins to wonder, aren’t we all on the same side? One of the main purposes of renewable energy is to protect the environment and help halt global warming. True, making money is a prime desire as well but if it wipes out the environmental concerns, we have, so to speak, thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Do we really need to put solar plants on pristine desert landscapes or on Native American sacred sites? It may take more time, effort and a little more money to research other less obvious sites, such as brownfields, but solar plants in these locations will accomplish both goals: keeping the environment safe and making money.”

Biofuel Grasslands Better for Birds Than Ethanol Staple Corn, Researchers Find

Biofuel crops can be a big threat to wildlife, or not, as this article shows-

Biofuel Grasslands Better for Birds. Science Daily.

Eagle Concerns Stymie Wind Farms

Wind Farms On Public Land Stymied By Eagle Concerns, Radar Interference

Spring Valley, NV ~ Katie Fite, WWP

The article notes a growing recognition of conflicts wind development on public lands are running into, slowing wind development on public lands across the West.

Eagle Concerns Stymie Wind Farms – AP

The only project approved is the Spring Valley wind farm in Nevada where the nearest eagle nest was over four miles away. Gina Jones, BLM’s project leader, said the company agreed to extensive mitigation, such as putting “anti-perch” devices on transmission poles within two miles of the wind farm.

You may remember that we’ve considered Spring Valley, Nevada on this site.  Having worked a little bit on the project, and considering the experts regard for the “extensive mitigation” measures that agency is accepting for these giant projects, it seems a bit disingenuous to suggest that BLM is doing a thorough job of genuinely considering the impacts.  Here you have big Wind putting in a farm at the mouth of the largest bat roost in the Great Basin Ecosystem and smack-dab in a sub-basin between two ranges that serve as parallel corridors for eagles.

Big Polluters Freed from Environmental Oversight by Stimulus

Big Energy companies with criminal records given billions in stimulus funds to wreak havoc on our public lands and wildlife.

The Center for Public Integrity has issued a stinging report on how the Obama Administration has bypassed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when issuing permits for energy and other projects which involve federal lands or funds. Over and over we have seen that projects are rushed through without any public oversight and in areas where they have severe environmental impacts. Wind farms on public lands without analysis of their impacts on bats, sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, and other wildlife; solar plants on public lands without sufficient analysis on endangered desert tortoise and other imperiled wildlife; power lines and other utilities permitted outside of established corridors without analysis of impacts on wildlife; offshore oil rigs in deep water without proper understanding of how to deal with catastrophic failures. All of these uses are being given a pass under NEPA.

Salazar = Extractive Industries' 'BFF'

What is the problem with this you might ask. Well, I’m sure you remember what happened in the Gulf of Mexico this summer. The Deepwater Horizon was permitted under a categorical exclusion.

In contrast livestock grazing permits are not even renewed under categorical exclusions, they require at least an Environmental Assessment that must undergo public review and can be appealed, in fact I do it all of the time.

These projects also only benefit those with existing power and money while projects, such as rooftop solar and energy efficiency improvements on existing structures which would benefit real people and not come at the expense of irreplaceable wildlife and land resources, are being forgone. It’s all about keeping the wealthy in control of our resources at the public expense.

What is next? Well in Nevada, the scourge of ranchers and water mining entities like the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ancient forests made up of old growth pinyon pine and junipers are being eyed by the energy companies as a source of biomass to fuel turbines. More on that later.

Big Polluters Freed from Environmental Oversight by Stimulus
The Center for Public Integrity

Coral, Marine-Life Devastation Near BP Oil Spill Indicates Much Worse Long-Term Damage Than Feds Had Admitted

Profound changes to the entire ecology of the Gulf

This is part of what makes Obama/Salazar appear tone deaf to what occurred during the Gulf Oil Spill and I think it played a big part in people’s loss of faith in his administration and big losses seen in the Congress by Democrats. Rather than using this as an opportunity to impose real regulation on big oil they downplayed what the real implications of the spill were and, some would say, actively covered up how much oil was leaked and how much damaged was caused.

Meanwhile BP claimed big quarterly profits.

And you wonder why voters are so cynical……

Coral, Marine-Life Devastation Near BP Oil Spill Indicates Much Worse Long-Term Damage Than Feds Had Admitted.
Associated Press

Update 11/10. I read this today. . . Ralph Maughan. Oil from the BP Disaster May Remain Thick on the Seafloor. Scientific American. The sea floor is covered with what is thought to be oil topped off with something they term “slime snot.”  This is probably a layer of bacteria eating the oil.  My thought is, disgusting, but maybe hopeful.

Oregon Field Guide — Wind and Bats

17,000 dead bats/year in Oregon before a proposed 15-fold increase in wind energy.

The drumbeat behind the “green energy” movement is beating louder for wind farms across the landscape, especially on public lands. At the rate that things are going there may be huge effects on bats and birds of many types. Oregon Field Guide has done a segment investigating the impacts on bats in particular and they are severe.

I fail to see how something that causes such negative impacts on wildlife could be called “green”.

Oregon Field Guide — Wind and Bats
Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Movement of giant oil equipment through Montana sparks Missoula protest

Oversized, outsized equipment protest. . . the first of years of citizen anger against environmental disruption and traffic delays?

It seems to me that this will not be a one time event because the passage of this huge equipment through north central Idaho and then Montana will be ongoing for many years.

Missoula demonstrators protest big rigs, fossil fuels at Exxon station. By Gwen Florio.  Missoulian

Biologists scour Mojave in desert tortoise roundup.

What has this society come to?
Construction of the Ivanpah Solar plant starts.

Clear the land of life for power generation that could be achieved by installing solar panels on rooftops where it is used. The bulldozers, fences, and powerlines are next.

The science shows that half of these endangered desert tortoises will die and an equal number of the tortoises that will be displaced but the moved tortoises will die as well. It’s all a charade under the guise of GREEN ENERGY that is being greenwashed by many of the big “conservation” groups.

Other alternatives were never examined because that would get in the way of the profits of those big power companies who will profit at the expense of the taxpayers and more importantly habitat and wildlife. There is a playa just across the freeway where Bob Abbey, the director of the BLM, likes to landsail. It was never considered as an alternative site.

The effort in San Bernardino County’s panoramic Ivanpah Valley, just north of Interstate 15 and about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas, disrupted complex tortoise social networks and blood lines linked for centuries by dusty trails, shelters and hibernation burrows.

Biologists scour Mojave in desert tortoise roundup
Los Angeles Times

Obama: Pygmy Rabbit “not warranted” for ESA protections

Salazar Strikes Again, Denying Meaningful Protection for Imperiled Tiny Bunny of the Sagebrush Sea

Pygmy rabbit

The declining condition of the Sagebrush Sea has been highlighted on a couple of occasions over the past couple of weeks.  In recent Washington state news we learned that jackrabbits in sagebrush habitats are diminishing.  Pygmy rabbits were rejected ESA protections by the Obama administration last week, and earlier last year Dr. Steven Herman remorsefully described his account of the extinction of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit:

Science is seldom followed in these endangered species “interventions”.  Politics trumps science -and conservation.

We need to remember the Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit as an example of a form lost in part to the the insanity of Public Grazing.

The Sagebrush Sea is Dying

Significant threats to sagebrush habitat across the western landscape continue to threaten and diminish a variety of sagebrush obligate species.

Sagebrush habitat is among the most imperiled ecosystems in North America and the rate at which our unique western wildlife and fish communities are declining is truly alarming.

Attempting to bring the most relief in the least amount of time, environmentalists continue to push for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for a number of umbrella species endemic to sagebrush habitats, including the grand-master of the Sagebrush Sea: the Greater Sage grouse.

Prioritizing these “umbrella” species is important, because when successfully listed, the protections secured these species will blanket entire ecosystems positively affecting the diversity of fish, wildlife, and environmental values which share the explicitly protected individuals’ habitat.  It’s like hitting a plethora of birds with one stone (bad analogy).

Ken Cole (age 11) holds pygmy rabbit

Pygmy Rabbits’ Race to Recovery

So it is with the charismatic, imperiled pygmy rabbit, North America’s tinniest bunny, and the only arboreal rabbit (climbs sagebrush) on Earth !

In 2003, a coalition of conservation groups petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to list pygmy rabbits under the ESA.

In early 2008, the USFWS, responding to legal pressure from conservation groups, finally issued a positive 90-day finding for pygmy rabbits, initiating a more thorough assessment of whether to protect the bunny under the ESA.

The agency dragged its feet again, prompting Western Watersheds Project et al to provide a legal reminder, again, of its court ordered obligation to the bunny …

Unfortunately, just earlier this week Pygmy rabbits were denied Endangered Species Act protections by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Laura Zuckerman, Reuters

“We find there has been some loss and degradation of pygmy rabbit habitat range-wide, but not to the magnitude that constitutes a significant threat to the species,” Bob Williams, supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Nevada, said in a statement.

Solar Or Wind Power? Why Not Both?

Using satellites to produce energy could eliminate the need for other power sources but how do you get the energy back to earth? Beam it.

This idea has been around for a while but it could have profound impacts that aren’t well understood. I find these kinds of stories fascinating and I think they relate to the discussions we have here.

Questions that aren’t addressed here are what effect would this have on climate? Yes, it could obviate the need for new sources of power but what about the effects of the beam itself? What about transmission lines and who would control it once it gets here? No doubt it would be controlled by some megacorporation if past history is any guide.

Other practical questions are how do you protect such a large object from space debris? What would such an object do to the night sky?

Solar Or Wind Power? Why Not Both?
Discovery News

Another Gulf Oil Well goes boom . . . now has mile long slick

No one dead this time; relatively shallow water-

This well was in production, unlike the Deepwater Horizon, BP disaster.  It tells me that major oil pollution might have become a permanent feature of the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil sheen spreading from Gulf platform explosion. By Alan Levin and Julie Schmit, USA Today

– – – – –

Added Sept. 3. There was an interesting article in the NYT today on this. Mariner Rig Accident Undercuts Efforts to End Drilling Moratorium. By John Collins Rudolf. From Green, NYT’s blog about energy and the environment.

The rig was owned by Mariner Energy and it is interesting that some of their executives were busy in Houston protesting against the moratorium on new deepwater drilling. The moratorium lasts until the end of November. It also seems these folks would rather engage in political protest rather than clean up their act. Certainly a bad omen for the future.

Grousing at windmills

Vodpod videos no longer available.
Grousing at windmills | Need to Know | PBS

The latest on oil and gas atrocities in the Gulf of Mexico

27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells, many probably leaking and more capable-
Gov’t and oil companies ignore them-

Gulf Awash In 27,000 Abandoned Oil And Gas Wells. By Jeff Donn and Mitch Weiss. Associated Press (reproduced in the Huffington Post)

I think many Americans are trying to ignore this ongoing disaster, but it will continue.  Findings like this say hundreds or thousands of smaller leaks are likely.

This didn’t just begin in the Bush Administration, but the Bush/Cheney Administration thoroughly corrupted the leasing and oversight of oil and gas. Then Obama’s Salazar didn’t fix it, though he promised when speaking on his first day as Secretary of Interior.

Gulf disaster stirs worries in Rockies

Could anything similar happen despite Wyoming’s inland location?

The corrupt and discredited Minerals Management Service (MMS) both regulates and collects royalties from off-shore oil and gas. Inland, the BLM does the same, and that agency is full of problems too.  You have to wonder if Salazar has been on the job correcting the BLM’s decline through the Dick Cheney years?

Oil and gas disasters are possible in Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, etc.  A hydrogen sulfide (that’s the very lethal rotten egg gas) blowout from natural gas wells, natural gas explosions, massive river pollution affecting the critical Green and Colorado Rivers are all possible.

This article in the Casper Star Tribune looks at it a bit from the view of conservationists but even more from the Wyoming oil industry. Diemer True (True Oil Company), who is quoted several times at the end of the article is one of the most powerful people in Wyoming.

Is a political overreaction to the oil gusher really possible with the oil and gas industry so well placed at the national, state and, in many places, local level? Or is it more likely nearly impossible to do anything of lasting consequence in the face of such political power?

Gulf disaster stirs worries in Rockies. By Dustin Bleizeffer. Star-Tribune energy reporter. Casper Star Tribune.

Biomass Energy Juggernaut Threatens Human and Forest Health

George Wuerthner challenges biomass energy.

If biomass energy production were fully implemented, it would become the single largest human impact to land in the country, requiring the near full utilization of all the U.S. forests and much of its agricultural lands for fuel production, contributing to what one TNC scientist has termed “energy sprawl.”

Biomass Energy Juggernaut Threatens Human and Forest Health.
George Wuerthner – New West

Natural Gas May Be Worse for the Planet than Coal

If not worse then just as bad.

A lot of energy has been expended to try to make natural gas look “green”. In fact many “green” groups and others are touting it as the “bridge fuel to a 21st-century energy economy” and claim that it is “cleaner” than coal. Well, it turns out that it may not be so “green” after-all.

When you consider that natural gas is composed primarily of methane and that leaks are common it doesn’t look so good. Methane traps 21 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2.  Is it worse than coal, maybe or maybe not, but it isn’t “green” and it is responsible for devastating much of southwest Wyoming and parts of Colorado.

Natural Gas May Be Worse for the Planet than Coal
A preliminary analysis suggests that natural gas could contribute far more to global warming than previously thought.
By Kevin Bullis

Energy chief stuns environmentalists with renewable energy approach

Nevada’s energy chief wants to take Federal Lands and hand them over to energy companies.

Jim Groth, an appointee of Governor Jim Gibbons, published a declaration which calls for turning the State of Nevada into an energy colony and he doesn’t think it should be subject to National Environmental Policy Act requirements.

“The greatest thing holding Nevada back from achieving economic success right now is the need to satisfy onerous policies or laws and have the ‘right’ paperwork in order,” Groth writes in his “declaration.”

Nevada has become the latest target of energy producers and transmitters of all stripes. Gigantic solar and wind plants as well as geothermal plants have been proposed on public lands. El Paso Corp’s Ruby Pipeline has received preliminary permission to pass through northern Nevada’s most pristine sage grouse and pygmy rabbit habitat. There are also a number of proposed transmission lines to support these developments.

Public lands are not a renewable resource and the kind of development proposed in Nevada will have devastating impacts on wildlife there. It is time to make a major push towards rooftop solar and conservation rather than these centralized power plants on public lands which require transmission lines that lose power getting the electricity to where it is used.

Energy chief stuns environmentalists with renewable energy approach.
Las Vegas Sun

Federal Agencies Sign Agreement to Protect Sage-Grouse Habitat

But they continue to ignore the biggest threat to their habitat……….. GRAZING.
$16 million in handouts for this year alone.

Sage grouse tracks © Katie Fite

The NRCS is handing out more money to ranchers for “habitat conservation” or “habitat improvement” projects that maintain grazing on public lands.

There are some projects such as fence removal that will be funded but the proposed seeding projects may require new fencing to keep livestock out for measly the 2 years they recommend and in some circumstances they call for applying herbicides to restrict the growth of sagebrush so that the seedlings can get a foothold.

So many times we’ve seen that these kinds of projects are co-opted by the livestock industry to be of more benefit to them rather than the values the funding was made available for. I doubt this will be any exception since they have made a concerted effort to deny that livestock have any role in sage-grouse habitat destruction.

Washington State biologist accused of steering donations to his nonprofit organization

Alleged actions are a violation of state law.

“A state ethics board alleges that William Weiler repeatedly used his position as a state biologist involved in permitting wind-power projects in Southwest Washington to influence turbine developers to donate money to the Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute, a nonprofit that he led.”

State biologist accused of steering donations to his nonprofit organization
By Hal Bernton – Seattle Times staff reporter

Environmentalists make plea for desert preservation

A group of environmentalists says renewable energy goal shouldn’t come with destruction of native plant, animal life

Sunset © Ken Cole

The Ivanpah Solar site lies on public lands in the center of very important desert tortoise habitat so the company proposes to move those tortoise to a new area before construction begins. This is a strategy that has been tried in the past that resulted in utter failure. Even the environmental impact statement acknowledges that one in six will die after being moved.

Renewable energy is important, but where it is placed matters. Is it right to be placing these giant wind and solar power projects and the additional power lines on vast swaths of public lands that are important habitat areas for many imperiled species or would it be better to place the power generation where it will be used? Rooftop solar is a viable alternative with the prices of solar panels dropping. Simply using the heat of the sun to heat homes and water results in significant energy savings. Do we need more power? Do we need to destroy our public lands when a more distributed model of energy production is possible?

Environmentalists make plea for desert preservation
Las Vegas Sun

Tar sand mining is actually coming to Utah?

Awful and unlikely “energy source”  might soon break ground in Eastern Utah-

Because of its tremendous environmental impacts and poor quality energy (little to no net energy is produced), I haven’t considered oil shale/tar sands mining much of an environmental threat in the desert of Utah. I suppose most others have felt the way.  As RL Miller says in his article below, a tar sands project has been “flying under the radar.”  Without more of a public uproar it will soon break ground near the national parks of Eastern Utah.

What an outrage!  This kind of thing needs to be killed dead and a stake driven through its heart. The tar sand mining in Alberta has been called the single most destructive energy project on the planet.

– – – – –
Tar Sands Mining: Coming NOW to the United States. By RL Miller. Daily Kos.

Great News! British Columbia says no mining in North Fork Flathead River

After years of controversy, B.C. to ban  mining, energy development in critical headwaters of famed river near Glacier National Park-

I have been worried about this for years, and posted many articles. Every month is seemed a new, massive environmentally destructive scheme was proposed for the North Fork.

Now British Columbia Lt. Gov. Steven Point says the North Fork Flathead River drainage will be off limits to mining and energy extraction in a speech to the B.C.  Parliament. Let’s hope the details don’t have loopholes.

British Columbia declares Canadian North Fork off limits to mining, energy development. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian
New article added on 2-11-2010. British Columbia Bans Mining, Drilling in Flathead River Valley. Environment News Service. This article gives additional information efforts to further protect area, something that was raised in the comments.

Photos (with locations)
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14392571
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14315354
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14422009
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14511373
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14392898
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14393086
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14415878
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15215649
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15216233

Wyoming-Oregon gas pipeline to cross Nevada and Utah-

The “Ruby pipeline” is to be bad news for pristine desert, scenic canyons, wildlife-

In typical single-minded engineering mentality, this pipeline will be built cross-country  with little regard for anything else.

Reno Gazette-Journal on the Ruby Pipeline. By Susan Voyles.

This pipeline is one reason why Western Watersheds giant sage-grouse lawsuit is so important.

Scientists Find Successful Way To Reduce Bat Deaths At Wind Turbines

Solution is to restrain blades from turning at all during low wind periods-

Scientists Find Successful Way To Reduce Bat Deaths At Wind Turbines. ScienceDaily

Alberta grizzlies down to just 580 bears

Will they become a Canadian threatened species?

To many Americans, Canada is still the “great white north” where multitudes of wildlife live in wilderness and “tree huggers” silly enough to want to see a bear or a wolf can go a see one behind almost every tree.

The reality is massive development, and especially in Alberta which has become essentially a petro-state.

Alberta’s government seems to sort of be moving toward more protection such as a permanent cancellation of the annual grizzly bear hunt against the strong resistance of some hunting groups.

A recent 5-year study that included most of Alberta (not its far north or Jasper and Banff*) using the most effect method — DNA analysis of bear fur — found only 581 bears. They had expected about a thousand. This is fewer than Montana’s grizzly population in and around Glacier National Park and adjacent Wilderness areas and backcountry.

The Alberta grizzly might be put on the Canadian threatened species list.

Here are a couple stories from the last few days.

• Grizzly population about 580. By Archie Mclean, edmontonjournal.com
• Alberta’s grizzly hunt decision a year off. By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald (in the Vancouver Sun)
• Editorial. Protect the grizzlies. Calgary Herald September 20, 2009

While many think of these two national parks as a stronghold of the grizzly, there are not large populations there because their rugged nature means most of the Parks are not good bear habitat. Moreover, the biologically production areas are often filled with highways, towns, resorts, and railroads.

Alberta oil sand development is greatest single source of pollution in the world

Oilsands’ emissions surpass some countries-

Although the oilsands massive pollution has been posted on this blog before, including a video, the magnitude of pollution is amazing. If current trends continue, according the article below, in eleven years they will produce as much greenhouse gas as all the world’s volcanoes.

Oilsands’ emissions surpass some countries. By Mary Jo Laforest. The Canadian Press. Globe and Mail.

Enviros Blast Obama’s Choice for Office of Surface Mining

Another controversial Obama appointment

This time, environmentalists are angered with Obama’s choice for Office of Surface Mining Reclamation, and Enforcement.

Enviros Blast Obama’s Choice for Office of Surface Mining – ENS

For the past 17 years Pizarchik has been engaged in Pennsylvania’s mining program, first as legal counsel and then as the director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation.

During his tenure at Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, says [Jeff] Ruch [Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility], “Pizarchik has hewn a solidly pro-industry line on topics such as acid mine drainage, subsidence from longwall mining and using mining slag as valley fill.”

Wind Turbines and Bird Kills

Federal Law Enforcement’s Double Standard on Bird Deaths

Robert Bryce writes about the enormous disparity in federal law enforcement between a bird killed in a wastewater tank versus the increasing number of birds falling victim to Wind Energy.

Wind Turbines and Bird Kills – via Counterpunch :

When it comes to protecting America’s wildlife, federal law enforcement officials have a double standard: one that’s enforced against the oil, gas, and electric utility sectors, and another that exempts the wind power sector from prosecution despite years of evidence involving hundreds, even thousands, of violations of two of America’s oldest wildlife-protection laws.

Feds To Consider Tortoise for Endangered Species Act Listing

Groups Applaud Finding for Rapidly Declining Desert Icon

Desert Tortoise - photo: USFWS

Desert tortoise advocates have been waiting for this good news for a very long time.  Should a listing take place, many human intrusions into the desert tortoise’s southwest desert habitat, including livestock grazing and excessive development, will be largely halted.  The benefit of such will be enjoyed by a great number of desert wildlife species.

Feds to consider protections for desert tortoise – AP

Wildlife officials said the environmentalists’ petition presented substantial information that might warrant listing the species as threatened or endangered. Threats include urban sprawl, off-road vehicle use and livestock grazing. The tortoises’ range includes 8.4 million acres of federal public land in Arizona. Livestock grazing is permitted on more than half that land.

The News Release :

Arizona—Aug 28. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) gave the green light today on a petition submitted by WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project requesting protection (listing) for the Sonoran desert tortoise under the Endangered Species Act. The finding means that the Service will now conduct a full review to determine if the tortoise warrants being placed on the list of threatened and endangered species.

Exxon-Mobil pleads guilty in bird case

Natural gas production is ugly for birds

Exxon-Mobil pleads guilty in bird case – Casper Star-Tribune

Exxon-Mobil Corp. has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver to violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act in five states including Wyoming during the past five years, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Conservation could provide 85 percent of power

We’ve frequently discussed the environmental costs of new power generation, including wind and solar on public lands and centralized versus distributed generation.  All energy production has environmental consequences. But while everyone’s talking about the pros and cons of the next generation technology, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council has found that although it may not be as sexy, the real ‘bang for the buck’ is in conservation.

Conservation could provide 85 percent of power

The new plan envisions the Northwest actually using less power in 10 years than it does now, even as the population rises, he said.

Council member Dick Wallace of Washington said conservation measures cost less than half of what new power generation costs, and they don’t add new carbon emissions.

Battle Brewing Over Giant Desert Solar Farm

Strong Environmental Laws Used to Promote Fair Paying Jobs, Social Justice

Another proposed energy development on the Mojave Desert prompts criticism from environmentalists concerned about its impact to imperiled wildlife and the landscape. But what’s particularly interesting about this story is that labor groups have finally caught on to the significant leverage that environmental laws can contribute to the cause of fair paying jobs. One labor group in particular has been pushing for huge energy developers to hire with fair contracts. Not suprisingly, energy companies, even those marketing themselves as green, like to keep the costs down whether that means exploiting public landscapes and wildlife – or even labor. Some labor groups are responding by reaching into environmentalists’ toolbox and hitting back.

Battle Brewing Over Giant Desert Solar Farm ~ Green Inc. – New York Times

The labor group, called California Unions for Reliable Energy, sent an attorney and biologist to testify at the hearing. The group has come under fire for inundating developers who decline to sign labor agreements with demands that they conduct scores of costly environmental studies on their solar projects.

Saving Energy by Managing Irrigation

In much of the West, pumping water to keep alfalfa growing in the desert through the hot season is an extremely wasteful endeavor.  Kate Galbraith writes about an energy conservation initiative in Idaho that pays irrigators to turn off the pumps during peak demand.

Saving Energy by Managing Irrigation New York Times blog

Doing more with less ~ conservation, efficiency ~ is almost always a cheaper proposition than the alternative, and there’s so much potential to reduce energy consumption.

Sage Grouse & Wind Farms Collide

Energy development on public lands impact wildlife habitat.  Wind developers are finding that the potential ESA listing of sage grouse is likely to significantly impact attempts to develop wind farms on public lands, especially in Wyoming :

Gov’s office disputes grouse impact – Casper Star-Tribune

A decision to block wind energy development from key sage grouse habitats in Wyoming could effectively nullify a significant portion of the state’s wind energy resource. But exactly how much is unclear.

Wind power industry and Western States create sage grouse research plan

Like so many other developments in what was  “sagebrush sea,” wind power impacts sage grouse-

I think that to the energy industry and many folks, including most Western politicians, the non-forested open spaces are just empty space where they could put “stuff.” The declining presence of sage grouse, and no doubt other wildlife in the face of this development is slowing down their plans.

Wind energy industry sets sage grouse research plan. By Dustin Bleizeffer. Casper Star-Tribune energy reporter
Just added ! Wildlife groups hail Canadian court ruling on sage-grouse. CBC News.

PacifiCorp Settles In Wyoming Raptor Electrocutions

$1.4 million dollar fine and retribution to be paid-

$9.1 million will be paid to retrofit power poles. Over 200 eagles died and many other raptors.

PacifiCorp Settles In Bird Electrocutions. By Mead Gruver. Associated Press Writer

Exxon-Mobil was involved too. Earlier story. Companies charged in bird deaths. By Tom Morton. Casper Star Tribune.

Environmentalists Sue Over the Location of New Energy Corridors Across Federal Lands

Suit says the corridors, which were drawn up in Bush Administration,were designed to move fossil fuel electricity, not renewable derived electricity-

Conflict over electricity production and transmission has a number of sides, e.g., renewable versus fossil fuel, centralized versus distributed, private land versus public, and more.

This lawsuit is over the first in the list. Environmentalists Sue Over Energy Transmission Across Federal Lands. By Kate Galbraith. New York Times.

It vital to get the infrastructure in the right place as well as the right kind. Mistakes of hundreds of billions of dollars  in the public and private spheres have already dragged down both the economy and the environment. If these corridors are built, it will commit to a fossil fuel future.

The failure of the Obama Administration to drop these Bush energy corridors may show a lack of committment to renewables. It may also show that they don’t have enough of their people in place yet to change policy. Republican Senator’s holds on nominees has made it so even yet many land management personnel are not yet in place. For example, Jeff E as a comment just pointed to article where John McCain is using a “hold” in the Senate to stop the nomination of the new BLM Director (Bob Abbey) until McCain gets a land transfer facilitating an 8 square mile copper mine in Arizona.

Note: plantiffs in the lawsuit are: Center for Biological Diversity; San Miguel County, Colo.; Bark; Defenders of Wildlife; Great Old Broads for Wilderness; Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center; National Parks Conservation Association; National Trust for Historic Preservation; Natural Resources Defense Council; Oregon Natural Desert Association; Sierra Club; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; The Wilderness Society; Western Resource Advocates and Western Watersheds Project.

Find out if the corridors rip though country important to you.

Here are the maps.

United Nations Will Study Threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Finally some international pressure on the coal pit/coalbed methane proposals just northwest of Glacier (and Waterton) National Parks-

United Nations Will Study Threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. By Dan Testa, Flathead Beacon (in New West)

Secretary Salazar, Senator Reid Announce ‘Fast-Track’ Initiatives for Solar Energy Development on Western Lands

A lot of ecologically important land is going to be put under the bulldozer with this.

Secretary Salazar, Senator Reid Announce ‘Fast-Track’ Initiatives for Solar Energy Development on Western Lands – Department of Interior News Release 6/29/09

And some comment :

Interior fast-tracks Big Solar on public lands – Chris Clarke, The Clade

Note the phrasing: “rapid development of renewable energy, especially on America’s public lands.”

Interior Unveils Solar Hot Spots Across West – David Frey, NewWest

San Juan coal plant celebrates pollution control upgrades

New controls complete after more than 60,000 air quality violations-

New controls. Farmington (NM) Daily Times.

This has long been a major polluter of the air and water of the 4-Corners country of the southwest.

Great News! More oil, gas leases retired along the Rocky Mountain Front

In 2006, Congress banned leasing federal lands on the Front, but many leases had already been given-

The effort to protect Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front from natural gas development has been and continues to be pretty successful. These oil, gas leases along the Front were the work of two NGOs, The Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front and Trout Unlimited.

The leases were bought from Donald Curry of Curry & Thornton of Ft. Worth, Texas.

This is very important grizzly bear habitat and deer, elk and moose spring, fall and winter range.

Leases Retired. By Karl Puckett. Great Falls Tribune Staff Writer

More on this. Added July 8, 2009. New lease arrangement advances preservation of Front. Great Falls Tribune.

Drill a fault for geothermal; trigger an earthquake?

Most geothermal developments use natural hot spring areas, but a new method may have great promise and danger-

Geothermal energy is regarded as a quasi renewable energy source because it does not use fossil fuels, uses the natural heat of the earth, and can be turned into clean electricity or for lower temperature sources for space heating by circulation of warm water. Iceland has made great strides in geothermal development.

However, hot spring areas do not occur everywhere, their useful life for geothermal energy is limited in time, and unique natural and scenic features are often destroyed in development.

As a result, developers want to drill deeper using the natural heat gradient of the Earth. The easiest way to do this is down a fault which provides a natural crack often leading to heat. Of course, faults are the cause and the result of earthquakes. Lubricating the fault with water seems a bit scary, but surprisingly a program is underway with more coming Idaho, Nevada, and California.

Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears. By James Glanz. New York Times.

My photo of an abandoned geothermal well in Raft River Valley, Idaho.

Distributed renewable energy makes economic & ecological sense

No need for much Renewable Energy development on Our Public Lands

Imperiled Desert Tortoise © Dr. Michael J. Connor, WWP

In early April, we discussed planned massive solar development projects on public lands underway in Southern California with Basin & Range Watch‘s splendid native plant & wildflower photo essay Last Spring at Ivanpah.  The essay bloomed across environmental listserves everywhere and, combined with many other factors, prompted internal debate among local and national environmental groups concerning the wisdom of the modern day land rush to develop massive renewable energy projects on our public lands.

More recently, the Protect our Communities Foundation weighed in, pointing out in a letter to Congress that the least cost, both in economic & ecological terms, production solution (conservation’s still at the top – ex: paint your roof white) may be distributed renewable energy solutions – solar panels on roof-tops, parking lots, i.e. already developed places that are close to points of use.  Producing energy closer to where it’s used minimizes astonishing transmission costs and preserves our remote public land wild places & wildlife which, ironically, are the very members of our communities in most need of protection given global climate change.

The Protect Our Communities Foundation Comment Letter on May 11, 2009 Field Hearing on “Solar Energy Development on Federal Lands: The Road to Consensus”  – courtesy Basin & Range Watch

The least-cost solar resource in 2009 is in California’s developed urban and suburban areas, and this resource is vast. All urban solar deployments would be compatible dual-use of existing rooftops and parking lots, avoiding the dilemma you noted in your opening remarks at the hearing – “Solar power is very land-intensive, and siting a solar plant means that most if not all of the other uses of that land are precluded.” 

Enviros cheer, critics jeer report on ‘flawed’ Utah oil leases

Salazar’s concession to Utah’s Senator Bennett to allow Hayes to be confirmed number two at Interior doesn’t turn out like the Senator wanted-

Enviros cheer, critics jeer report on ‘flawed’ oil leases. Bishop » Utah congressman calls it “crap,” Bennett is conciliatory. By Thomas Burr.
The Salt Lake Tribune.

From my perspective this dust-up turned out very well. 🙂

New on June. 13, 2008. Drilling decisions. Report shows flawed BLM process. Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

Northwest’s biofuel boom goes bust

The headline should read “corn ethanol,” not biofuel-

Despite the past, and continuing subsidies, ethanol made from corn produces little net energy and a lot of political conflict as it consumes a quarter of the country’s corn crop.

Advanced biofuels might hold promise, especially those using bacteria to directly produce ethanol or other low carbon fuels. However, the creation of vast monocultures of vegetation on lands unsuited for crop (such as corn) production, could pose a planet changing environmental cost. “Waste” trees and brush from all over the countryside fed into a bottomless biofuel energy machine could leave the countyside looking like Haiti.

Northwest’s biofuel boom goes bust. By Scott Learn, The Oregonian

New Public Interest Energy Blog

Ben Otto, a member of our ‘Ralph Maughan’s Wildlife News’ community, and a fellow rabble-rouser/live-wire (we gotsta stick together), has recently started his own blog about Public Interest Energy issues.  Check it out :

Public Interest Energy Blog

It’s a great resource to keep up on energy issues, nationally & especially in the state of Idaho – and it reminds us that the public interest ought be front and center.  These are the kind of thoughts on energy issues that let us preserve our public land and wildlife too (and maybe our hard-earned dollars for good measure !).

Some of my favorite posts thus far :

If Geeks Ran the Electric Grid

A vast interconnected series of tubes that responds to dynamic users, requests, and resources while remaining decentralized, easily accessible, and inexpensive. This could describe either the internet or, the electric grid. Except that the grid is dominated by a few vested monopolies with total control over the infrastructure.

Wind Turbines on Rooftops

Electric Bill Draining Your Pocketbook? Paint your roof white and save $ and the Earth

Keep on howling into the dark and dangerous night Ben !  We need your voice.

Renewable energy sparks a probe of a modern-day land rush

New technology, same uninhibited ambition

You had better watch this, now and from now on.  The land grabbers are on the loose again and they can be stopped only as they were before, by the effective marshaling of public opinion.  Your property is in danger of being alienated, your interests and those of your children are being threatened[…]

Bernard DeVoto
Two-Gun Desmond is Back ~ 1951

They say history repeats itself.  At nearly every point in the history of western colonization there was an industry that was all the uproar among the well-intentioned.  Europeans moved West and trapped away the beaver, mined, laid claim to the land with homestead, sheep and cattle – don’t forget the logging.  That was no problem, the resource was infinite back then.  We did the impossible in harnessing rivers with dams and harvesting its inertia as our own, bringing power to cities and agricultural production to a western arid landscape that would not support such dense human habitation otherwise.  Hydroelectric dams were supposed to be the next perfect, “clean” source of power – remember ?

At each point in this history, calls for restraint, even timid caution against the unforeseeable consequences of the next great, faultless enterprise were brushed aside – dismissed as ‘nay-saying’ and the personalities behind the calls were labeled enemies of progress by even the most forward thinking and well-intentioned voices leading the charge.  The allure of human ambition has always enjoyed more volume than the practice of restraint.  ‘The land is infinite’ ~  ‘we’ve found the perfect technology, the perfect innovation’ ~ ‘we just need to make sure there’s good housekeeping’ ~ ‘you can’t stop progess’.

But, unfortunately – it seems to me, depending on how one looks at it, “progress” keeps happening over and over again in the same way as before.

Renewable energy sparks a probe of a modern-day land rush – The Los Angeles Times

A rush to stake claims for renewable energy projects in the California desert has triggered a federal investigation and prompted calls for reforms to prevent public lands from being exposed to private profiteering and environmental degradation.

Obama Touts Energy Progress He Calls Projects In Nevada, “Models”

The President visited projects done the right way-

These projects were near a load center and built on degraded land. I wonder if he thinks this is the way most Nevada projects will be, or whether he simply did a cynical PR ploy?

Obama said. “We’ll invest in the development and deployment of solar technology wherever it can thrive, and we’ll find the best ways to integrate solar power into our electric grid.”

I guess this means it our patriotic duty to make sure solar technology cannot thrive in the wrong kind of places — remote, scenic and biologically important areas, far from load centers.

Obama Touts Energy Progress. He Calls Projects In Nevada, Models. By William Branigin. Washington Post Staff Writer

A thousand or so wind turbines south of Rawlins, Wyoming?

Anshutz plans 4-6 billon dollar development-

Anschutz Corp. plans masssive Wyoming wind farm. By Matt Joyce. AP. Forbes.

About 40 other remote wind projects are being considered. This single project would cover over 150 square miles.

– – – – – –

Related: Biologists study turbines’ effect on grouse. Billings Gazette. AP
5-26. For comparison: Utah wind farm nearing completion (97 turbines). Salt Lake Tribune

Obama’s EPA clears 42 of 48 New Mountaintop Removal Mining Permits

Back East, things aren’t looking much better for the environment-
See below

Obama’s EPA clears 42 of 48 New Mountaintop Removal Mining Permits

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Obama administration has cleared more than three-dozen new mountaintop removal permits for issuance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, drawing quick criticism from environmental groups who had hoped the new president would halt the controversial practice.

Judge rejects splitting up suit over Western bird

BLM Resource Management Litigation hits “World News”

Update May 13:  The Salt Lake Tribune publishes an important Editorial on the recent news: Saving sage grouse :

A funny-looking bird that fluffs its feathers to dance an elaborate mating rite just might be able to accomplish what well-funded environmental groups have been struggling to do for decades: bring about regional protection of vast swaths of Western lands.[…]

[…]In protecting the sage grouse, we protect ourselves and the scenic wonders we treasure from the headlong rush to extract more fossil fuels, to pollute our air, and to mar our most fragile landscapes with excessive ATV traffic.

The Guardian is running Todd Dvorak’s piece on WWP’s recent successful argument in federal court to keep its West-wide comprehensive litigation in one courtroom :

Judge rejects splitting up suit over Western bird – Guardian vi AP

The New York Times ran a clip of the piece as well .

This ambitious case is a big deal and promises to be a headache for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose promise to clean up Interior is being tested by the suit in a manner that moves beyond photo-ops and talking-points.

Will Salazar do the right thing for Western public landscapes and wildlife for real ?

Bush BLM’s environmental legacy on trial; Will Salazar listen ?

Scope of litigation - map © Advocates for the West & Conservation Geography - click to view enlarged map

Judge B Lynne Winmill ruled in favor of Western Watersheds Project ordering that the group’s comprehensive challenge of over 16 Resource Management Plans, directing management of over 30 million acres, can be litigated in his single court.

Resource Management Plans (RMPs) guide management of livestock grazing, off road vehicles, energy development, and other potentially environmentally harmful administered uses of public land.

WWP argues that Bush BLM’s collective Resource Management Plans constitute a systemic effort to undermine fundamental environmental laws of the United States thereby threatening many imperiled species using the example of mismanagement and failure to consider impact to sage grouse – an imperiled landscape indicator species (‘canary in the coal-mine’ of sage-steppe habitat) across millions of acres.

The Grid May Be Smart, But Will It Also Be Green?

With all of the talk about “smart grid technology” and “green” energy recently you may wonder if the two are really what they are claimed to be.   Here is a story about “smart grid technology” which indicates that it may not be all that green.

“Anybody who’s proposing a transmission line in the United States these days is going to claim it’s going to be used for renewable — it’s going to be a ‘green’ line because that’s mom and apple pie.”
Dian Grueneich,
California Public Utilities Commissioner

The Grid May Be Smart, But Will It Also Be Green?
National Public Radio.

China Mountain/Brown’s Bench Wind developer wants to keep its deals secret

Brown's Bench © Katie Fite 2008, (Click to view Slideshow)

You might remember the controversial project that resulted in an IDFG regional supervisor to lose his job after pointing out the obvious – namely, that energy developments (yes, even ‘blessed’ Wind) on public lands impact wildlife and habitat in southern Idaho.  The wind company at issue on China Mountain/Brown’s Bench is RES Americas Inc., and recently it looks as if the only thing “renewable” about RES Americas is the questionable contracts it keeps producing.

They seem to want to keep their contracts secret. For example, they prevented a daughter from blowing the whistle on an RES wind-contract that her mother was asked to sign in South Dakota.  Mom asked her daughter to look over the contract because she worked as a lawyer for NV Energy, RES Americas Inc.’s partner on the China Mountain project :

Wind companies want to nix contract disclosures – AP

Sannes asked her daughter to look over the lease, and when she did, she “called me and said, ‘This is the worst contract I have ever seen,'” Sannes said in an interview. She said company representatives told her 80 of her Barnes County neighbors had signed it.

It just goes to show, Wind’s got good PR people – but with the same investors and business model as before is it really fair to call them “clean”.  It looks as though folk are getting blown over all over the country. Let’s not let our public lands be next.

Last Spring at Ivanpah…?

A huge solar power plant threatens rare plants and animals.

There has been much discussion about renewable energy sources and large wind and solar projects. The problems with many of these projects are manyfold. One, there will be no decommissioning of any coal fired or other polluting/greenhouse gas emitting power plants as mitigation. Two, the areas where many of these projects are planned are in very important habitats for rare plants and animals. Three, many of these plants are centralized for the profit of the few and vulnerable to any manner of attack as can be seen from last week’s post. Fourth, desert soils, which will be scraped of all life, are great carbon sinks and all of this carbon will be released to the atmosphere exacerbating the greenhouse effect.

The Ivanpah Solar Energy Project is planned for an area of southern California near Clark Mountain on the border of the Mojave National Preserve. 4,000 acres, nearly 6.5 square miles, will be scraped clean of all earth and solar panels will be constructed.

There are better ways and places to produce or save electricity but since many people view these lands as “wastelands” there is little concern from the public. De-centralized power, including community based systems, in areas that have already been developed such as rooftops and farm fields are better options. This type of development is more sustainable, loses less energy in transmission, and less vulnerable to attack.

Basin and Range Watch visited the site of the proposed facility and found a great diversity of life.

Even though the rains were not great this past winter, wildflowers were still common in the Mojave Desert. We walked across the old granitic fan sloping gradually off Clark Mountain, by creosote rings perhaps thousands of years old, by strange tree-like cholla cacti, to a small gray limestone hill. The entire area we traversed will be graded by machinery and stripped of all life if the planned Ivanpah Solar Energy Project is built. So we wanted to check out what will be lost.

The desert here was quite active, Black-throated sparrows singing from the tops of shrubs, Zebra-tailed lizards skittering across washes, and hordes of mammal tracks filling the sand: Kit foxes, kangaroo rats, pocket mice, jackrabbits, even a few wild burros. The place was waking up from cold winter rest, and a diversity of wildflowers showed themselves.

Last Spring at Ivanpah…?
Basin and Range Watch.

Electrical Grid In U.S. Penetrated by Spies

Incident spotlights security vulnerability of centralized energy production and distribution

This country is amidst a fundamental cross-roads when it comes to energy development. Many, including those in Washington, are straddling a dirty green line, a compromise of wildlife habitat and public lands to facilitate Salazar’s ambitious “moon shot” – the expeditious development of centralized renewable energy and transmission lines.

I’ve been delivering the need for a line in the green sand, concluding that a landscape and wildlife habitat carved by an energy development marketed as “green” is still a denuded landscape and precluded wildlife habitat.

But frequent visitors to this forum may note that Ralph has also been pointing to another vulnerability in re-developing our energy grid in the same centralized fashion as before.  He’s been pointing to the inherent vulnerability of centralized production and distribution of power to disruption – whether it be from domestic, natural, or foreign threats :

Electrical Grid In U.S. Penetrated by Spies – Washington Post

Auction saboteur gets letter demanding $81K

DeChristopher gets a confusing letter from the BLM demanding he pay $81,000-

Auction saboteur gets letter demanding $81K.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office and BLM deny responsibility. By Patty Henet.  The Salt Lake Tribune.

Why did he get this letter? Who wrote it.? It seems odd.

Oil to be moved from huge tanks near Redoubt volcano

Question from earlier post answered-

Story: Officials will remove oil from two massive storage tanks near the base of erupting Mount Redoubt. CNN.

Earlier on this blog: Palin & Chevron; Spill Disaster in the Making

Palin & Chevron; Spill Disaster in the Making

There are 6-million gallons of crude sitting at the base of Mt. Redoubt-

Palin & Chevron; Spill Disaster in the Making. Shannyn Moore. Just a girl from Homer. Huffington Post.

Ms. Moore asks a good question:  “Why is there 6 million gallons of crude oil just sitting at the base of a live volcano? Currently, 6 million gallons of Alaska crude oil wait at the base of a volcano that has puked, spewed and gone half mad 19 times in the last 8 days.”

– – – – –

ed. note: the last time Mt. Redoubt erupted the oil terminal was almost taken out. They built a dike around it later. So far it has held. Pretty reassuring!

Salazar is drilling home renewables’ new power

The great misfortune of “renewables” seems to be that wildlife habitat is expendable…

Salazar is drilling home renewables’ new power.By Michael Riley. The Denver Post

Group sees ‘violation of trust’

WILDLANDS CONSERVANCY: It brokered a BLM deal to protect the desert acres that are now being opened to development.

Group sees ‘violation of trust’ By JANET ZIMMERMAN The Press-Enterprise

Obama admin faces power grid vs. public lands conundrum

Our own KT quoted in New York Times!

Obama admin faces power grid vs. public lands conundrum. By Scott Streater. New York Times.

Raser ready to flip the switch on Beaver, Utah geothermal plant

New geothermal plant in Utah will send 7 megawatts of power to California-

This is what should not be done. Seven megawatts, relatively speaking, is nothing. Most coal and nuclear plants are built in 300 to 1000 megawatt units. At any rate, small sources like this should be used locally.

One good thing about this is that it is a technological advancement. In the past geothermal electricity generation has required very hot water. This one does not.

I fear most hot springs are going to end up becoming an industrial site.

Raser ready to flip the switch on Beaver geothermal plant. Clean energy. Utah company cites milestone in green energy production. By Steven Oberbeck. The Salt Lake Tribune

– – – – –

Here is a closely related story.

The most efficient use of solar may be to heat water for “passive use” (meaning not to turn turbines and create electricity with the solar heat)- Solar Water Heating Pays For Itself Five Times Over. Science Daily.

– – – – – –

I think the ultimate beneficial use of geothermal energy will come when technology allows us to tap the heat of the Earth using the heat gradient as you drill down. This way, geothermal power could be tapped anywhere on the planet. Ralph Maughan

Coal plants checked by enviro campaigns, costs

Good news for energy and wildlife-

It is increasingly clear that the building of new coal plants is collapsing as this article indicates as a followup to my post of yesterday, Companies rethink coal plants.

While planning and some actual construction of wind, solar and geothermal plants in remote locations continues, with plenty of hype accompanyhing it, it seems to me that as in the 1970s energy crisis, it will be increased efficiency that wins the day. For example, read this story about building a “smart energy grid.” Stimulus Dollars Energize Efforts To Smarten Up the Electric Power Grid. By Peter Slevin and Steven Mufson. Washington Post.

Building new transmission lines is enormously expensive, and even large solar or wind farms do not supply all that much energy compared to a coal or nuclear plant. Therefore, I am thinking most of these wind and solar electricity facilities will be built next to, or near already existing transmission lines and in or near load centers such as on building roof tops.

The currently largest solar-steam electricity plant in the United States is Solar One. located just south of Henderson and Boulder City, Nevada. I drove by it the other day. See below. It takes up a lot of space and yet “largest” only means generation of 74 megawatts. The typical coal plant today is built in units of 500 to 750 megawatts. I also noticed that Solar One was located right next to a transmission line coming from Hoover Dam on the Colorado.

The Solar One steam-electric plant in Eldorado Valley, Nevada. Feb. 2009. Notice the big transmission line behind the plant. It comes from nearby Hoover Dam. Copyright © Ralph Maughan

Awful as the “great recession” has become, one bright side is that it decreases the demand for electricity from what it would otherwise be. This makes is so that lack of electrical energy is not a barrier to economic recovery.

The disruption to wildlife habitat will be less than many believe, despite some scary proposals on the table such as China Mountain on the Idaho/Nevada border, which may indeed be built.

Companies rethink coal plants

Many planned coal plants are now being scrapped-

Companies rethink coal plants. By Traci Watson, USA Today.

Planned new coal plants are dropping by the scores. However, the majority of electricity in the U.S. is produced by coal, and many by old, and therefore more polluting plants like the one below.

On my recent trip to the Arizona region, I noticed the utilities had really taken advantage of the Indian nations of NE Arizona and NW New Mexico and packed the place with coal plants. The air quality was good, however, but I think that was because the jet stream was directly overhead when I passed through taking the emissions rapidly off to the east.

The Coronado coal-fired steam electric plant on the Navajo Reservation. March 2009. Copyright Ralph Maughan

Interior puts brakes on oil-shale leases — for now

This is a review of a Bush hurry up decision, not a decision to refrain permanently from leasing-

Story in the Salt Lake Tribune. By Patty Henetz.

Although Obama says oil shale is still being considered, I think they will conclude as others have in the past, that getting oil from oil shale is an energy loss, not an energy production program, and one with huge negative side-effects. Of course, by saying it it still being considered you can say maybe some radical new technology will come along.

A Line in the Green Sand

Although this essay is international in scope, it being written about a river in Britain, it gets at the heart of a tension among environmental issues coming to a head in so many localities all over the West – all over the world.  Paul Kingsnorth hits the point in a way that many activists have been hoping to hit it for some time :

A Line in the Green Sand – The Guardian

When I climb a mountain, then, and find that the detritus of civilisation has followed me, in the form of giant wind turbines, my reaction is not to jump for joy because it is zero-carbon detritus. My reaction is to wonder how anyone could miss the point so spectacularly. And when I hear other environmentalists responding to my concerns with aggressive dismissal – particularly if they have never visited the mountain in question – I get really quite depressed

Fifteen or so years ago, as an excitable young road protester, I tried to prevent the destruction of beautiful places. To me, building a motorway through ancient downland, or a bypass through a watermeadow, was a desecration. To me today, a windfarm on a mountain is a similar desecration. A tidal barrage that turns a great river into a glorified mill stream is a desecration. Carpeting the Sahara with giant solar panels would be a desecration. The motivation may be different, but the destruction of the wild and the wonderful is the same.

Columbia salmon plan goes before judge for third try

Is the Third Time a Charm?

Perhaps no person has more control over the fate of Columbia River salmon and dams today than a 79-year-old Red Sox fan who doesn’t fish or much care for the taste of salmon. U.S. District Judge James Redden is expected to rule as early as next month in the long-running case over whether dams on the Columbia River system are doing enough to protect endangered fish.

Columbia salmon plan goes before judge for third try

By Warren Cornwall – Seattle Times environment reporter

The Judge has threatened to take over management himself if he is not satisfied with the latest recovery plan.

Update:

NW council approves Columbia River management plan

New Grid for Renewable Energy Could Be Costly

The Wall Street Journal Reports on a study that indicates a new grid could cost $100 billion.

This article says that 15,000 miles of new transmission lines would be required and that federal intervention might be used due to lawsuits.

New Grid for Renewable Energy Could Be Costly – WSJ.com.

My feeling is that we might want to consider other models before plunging headlong into this decision.

KC

New US office takes fresh approach to carbon

One possibility: Industrial emitters of CO2 partner with landowners to plant forests-

By Todd Wilkinson
New US office takes fresh approach to carbon. Christian Science Monitor.

– – – – –
Added by RM. Related article. It’s cold. Does that debunk global warming? By Eoin O’Carroll. Christian Science Monitor.

Transmission lies

Against the so-called ‘need’ for new long-distance, high-voltage transmission lines

Transmission lies Grist Environmental News and Commentary

Carol A. Overland posits the idea that a new electrical grid is “an enabler of dysfunctional energy planning and profit-driven projects that are against the public interest.”

Searchlight, Nevada versus Wind Goliath

The folks in Harry Reid’s hometown are not thrilled about plans for wind turbine development-

An interesting story from basinandrangewatch.org.

Government Scoping Meeting: Residents React to Industrial Wind Farm Proposal. By LMC

Searchlight, Nevada area map.

Bishop says Alberta oil sands development is morally objectionable

Ft. McMurry Catholic Bishop joins with others in condemning what some say is the most environmentally damaging project on the planet-

Bishop spurns oilsands development.  Roman Catholic leader wants environmental concerns addressed; industry welcomes debate. Edmonton Journal.

The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is now genetically extinct

This loss highlights the importance of genetic interchange and landscape-level habitat preservation

Photo Courtesy USFWS

The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act but efforts to restore the bunny have been unsuccesful.  Even efforts at maintaining as much of the Columbia Basin ancestory/gene by interbreeding with Idaho pygmy rabbits are not looking good.

Last-ditch effort to save pygmy rabbits near an end – Wenatchee Work Online

Pygmy rabbits are very timid animals, not prone to travel large distances or cross open spaces without cover from predators.  Fragmentation and manipulation of habitat associated with development, livestock grazing, and other activities that degrade the thick old-growth sagebrush pygmy rabbits need to survive is largely responsible for the imperilment of the rabbits.

Update – Dr. Steve Herman explains some history :

The right way to do solar power

Don’t take up huge swaths of land-

I found this video that shows solar power underway with a deemphasis on remote solar collection in land-destroying mega-farm and vast transmission lines to electricity load centers.

Orchards of the sun on space.com.  Let’s hope Obama will go this route. Not only is it better for our environment, it will distribute the jobs more widely.

Utah downgrades its oil-shale estimates

There’s less oil-shale in Utah than they thought – still a lot, but that doesn’t mean much, it’s not a viable energy option taking more energy to bring to market than it contributes to the market.

Utah downgrades its oil-shale estimates – Salt Lake Tribute

Obama’s choices for EPA and Energy Secretary

Steven Chu, a physicist, will be energy secretary. Lisa P. Jackson, from New Jersey environmental protection will head the E.P.A.-

Story from the New York Times. Obama Team Set on Environment. By John M. Broder.

Carol Browner, head of the EPA under Clinton may get the new climate post.

– – – – more

Nancy Sutley will head the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) inside the Executive Office of the President. Story on Sutley. “Mind your CEQ.” Posted by Janet Wilson to Gristmill. The CEQ is a position that does not need congressional approval.

– – – –

My stray comment . . . could you imagine a real scientist, in fact a n0bel prize winner, heading up a cabinet department in the Bush Administration? RM

Study shows mimimal risk to common farm birds from wind turbines

Wind turbines and birds-

“A recent study has concluded that wind turbines pose less of a risk to farmland birds than previously thought.”

Birds Not At Risk From Wind Turbines [misleading headline]. Red Orbit.

While the study on European farmland birds shows small effect — good news — the headline above overgeneralizes.

Drill, baby, Drill

George Wuerthner confronts the “Drill, baby, Drill” mantra with real energy conservation solutions.  George has fired up a new blog which will include his essays of the past as well as those currently under construction.  Check it out :

Drill, baby, Drill – Wuerthner on the Environment

Alberta oil sands. Huge environmental cost divides Pres. Bush from U.S. Mayors

Critics: Canada’s oil boom an environmental bust. Extracting oil from Canada’s open-pit mines poses unacceptable risks to the region’s rivers and forests, critics of the projects say. By Rob Gillies. AP.

They might strip mine an area as large as New York state.

While oil sands does yield a lot of net energy, the ratio is poor compared to traditional sources, making synthetic oil from the sands even more damaging in terms of greenhouse gases.

Of course President Bush thinks the oil sands are great, but U.S. mayors have passed a resolution against their use.

Grousing Around

Joan McCarter looks at some of Wyoming’s recent strategies to protect sage grouse, avoid ESA listing of Sage grouse to keep Oil & Gas happy.

Grousing Around
Is the sage grouse the 21st century’s spotted owl? – NewWest

Southeast Idaho officials approve a big wind energy farm

Southeast Idaho officials approve a big wind energy farm. AP

“Construction of a 150-turbine wind farm on 20,000 acres along Wolverine Canyon [Blackfoot Mountains] has been approved by Bingham County commissioners.”

The turbines would be 490 feet tall!! I wonder if there are any taller ones anywhere?

This project is remaking some traditional political alliances in the area. Leading the charge against the farm is Frank VanderSloot, owner of Melaleuca Inc.  He is a major Eastern Idaho Republican influential and a landowner in the area

Big Oil makes the most money ever

Big Oil’s biggest quarter ever: $51.5B in all. By John Porretto. AP Business Writer.

So far Speaker Pelsosi has kept nervous Democrats in line on big oil’s plan’s to use the high price of gasoline to gain leases in fragile off and on-shore public lands.

The counterattack should be easy. The headline above shows the way.

In addition, look at the polling data. Who gets the greatest blame from the public? See Pollingreport.com.

It would be fun to do a little ad on the lifestyles of the oil company CEOs.

As for the substantial number who want to see more drilling off-shore and especially on-shore, opponents need to make ads showing what these lands are like and where.  It’s easy for someone to say give them more leases on public lands; but not so easy to say lease Grand Canyon National Park.

Utah BLM isn’t responding to the needs of sportsmen

Utah BLM isn’t responding to the needs of sportsmen. By Dan Potts, Chris Thomas and Joel Webster. Salt Lake Tribune.

That’s because the BLM has been directed to focus on energy more than ever (it’s not they did much for wildlife or recreation in the past).

Americans Don’t Believe Bush, Industry Claims on Gas Prices, Poll Shows

There has been some discussion about the rise in recent gas prices and its effect on public support to drill on public lands.  Polls are being tossed around and their results are as diverse as the questions – mostly we’ve seen Oil Industry sponsored polls suggesting widespread support for more drilling.

Ralph has suggested that respondents’ can flip dramatically depending on how a question is asked.  I’ve suggested that polls are often conducted with a normative rather than descriptive aim, e.g. with the shrewd political aim of generating short-term political capital to pass or stop legislation rather than gain any objective understanding of how a population feels.

In short, polls are as easily used as political weapons as social descriptors.  Obviously, the better pollsters go to great lengths to avoid bias.

One couldn’t cast a healthy dose of skepticism on Oil Industry polls purporting that ‘America’s want to drill public lands’ in good faith without imparting a similar suggestion to be thoughtfully critical of polls that claim otherwise.  With this in mind – some good news ! :

Americans Don’t Believe Bush, Industry Claims on Gas Prices, Poll Shows – Yahoo! News

Evaluate the questions for yourself – National Survey conducted by Belden Russonello & Stewart

Feverish natural gas drilling has wreaked havoc on West’s precious natural features

“The industrial takeover of the West is not about oil or the price of gasoline at the pump. Domestic oil production, in fact, has suffered from a shell game.

Nearly all the drilling on public lands is, in fact, about methane: natural gas. The booty at the wellhead is methane and stockholder cash.”

Natural gas drilling is hurting land. By Ed Dentry, Rocky Mountain News.

Bush/Cheney/McCain say “drill and lower gasoline prices,” but most of the drilling onshore in the West is not for oil, but for natural gas (which is mostly methane).

Heedless rush by Bush on oil shale (opinion by Senator Ken Salazar)

We’ve seen this heedless rush to oil shale before, just ahead of the inevitable bust. By Senator Ken Salazar. Salt Lake Tribune (reprinted from the Washington Post).

Salazar is a U.S. Senator from Colorado, the state where much of the oil shale lies.

River, Wyoming Range bills move to Senate

River, Wyoming Range bills move to Senate. Jackson Hole News and Guide. By Noah Brenner.

The Wyoming Range bill, sponsored by Wyoming’s Republican senators, would withdraw a big area of scenic, wildlife rich and and unstable soil from oil and gas leasing (contrary to the party’s push to open everything up on public lands).

It should be interesting. The Wyoming Range bill is protected politically to a degree by being part of an omnibus bill.

BLM plan calls for 4400!! more wells on the Pinedale Anticline

Just incredible! BLM plan calls for more 4400 wells on the Pinedale Anticline. AP

Out-of-state energy workers having a good time gunning down Wyoming wildlife

‘It’s pretty disgusting’. By Ben Neary. Casper Star Tribune.

Here’s another thing the oil companies don’t mention in their drilling propaganda.

Bush returns to orginal premise of his presidency — help oil companies

Brian Ertz posted a story several days ago about this topic. This is my take.

In the last week we have had the President’s answer to high energy prices, drill for domestic oil, and develop oil shale deposits.

The primary economic result of this will be to enrich the oil companies even more. They don’t know how to extract oil from shale and produce net energy. It’s like corn ethanol, only worse. It is not a matter of the price of a barrel of oil getting high enough to make oil from this rock containing a petroleum related substance a source of energy.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership sues to halt drilling on Pinedale Anticline

Good for this basically Republican group, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

News release from TRCP. “TRCP Sues Interior Department over Mismanaged Wyoming Energy Project.
Multiple violations of federal law drive sportsmen’s group to action on Pinedale Anticline, currently targeted for greatly expanded drilling and development”

Matthew Brown’s AP story.  Group sues to block drilling.