GPN & Solar/Wind Renewable Energy
The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power's (LADWP's) stated purpose for its Green Path North (GPN) Project is to deliver renewable energy (geothermal/solar/wind) from the Imperial Valley to the LADWP power grid. The California Desert Coalition (CDC) does not argue with LADWP's need to provide renewable energy but with LADWP's choice for its preferred route through pristine desert and desert communities.
LADWP's planning for GPN reflects a much larger issue -- the current rush at both state and federal levels to develop utility-scale solar and wind projects and their associated transmission lines on public lands, much of it pristine, environmentally sensitive land in the California Desert.
Federal and state officials and agencies are putting their efforts towards expediting the review process for these projects, with little concern for environmental protection laws that have been in effect for years.
Federal and state agencies regulate transmission, solar, and wind projects under processes that apply to all three categories. Thus, for CDC to fulfill its stated mission to stop the GPN preferred route, CDC must work to assure that these processes are not circumvented or expedited due to the current public land rush.
The map and project application documents at the right show the enormity of the issue. As of May 2009, there are 66 applications for solar projects on public lands in the California Desert and 92 applications for wind projects on public lands in California, many in the desert. The total public land in California under consideration for alternative energy production exceeds 1.45 million acres.
The primary focus on utility-scale, remote generation and the transmission lines necessitated by this approach is an agenda being driven by large corporations, many of them international, who are the project applicants, as well as by large utilities, such as LADWP, who make money on controlling transmission lines. Transmission, solar, and wind project companies and utilities will only receive federal stimulus money if their projects are approved and ready for construction by the end of 2010 -- thus fueling their efforts to lobby for expedited processing.
This focus ignores the contribution that could be made by other alternative solutions, such as conservation, energy efficiency, use of already disturbed lands, and local generation as on rooftops using photovoltaic (PV) panels. There are better, greener ways to accomplish renewable energy goals, become energy independent, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and affect climate change.
As to the need to build new transmission lines, another aspect that is being undervalued is the additional capacity that will be available on existing lines as dirty, coal-fired energy is removed from these lines -- which is the main point of turning to renewable energy in the first place.
LADWP's planning for GPN reflects a much larger issue -- the current rush at both state and federal levels to develop utility-scale solar and wind projects and their associated transmission lines on public lands, much of it pristine, environmentally sensitive land in the California Desert.
Federal and state officials and agencies are putting their efforts towards expediting the review process for these projects, with little concern for environmental protection laws that have been in effect for years.
Federal and state agencies regulate transmission, solar, and wind projects under processes that apply to all three categories. Thus, for CDC to fulfill its stated mission to stop the GPN preferred route, CDC must work to assure that these processes are not circumvented or expedited due to the current public land rush.
The map and project application documents at the right show the enormity of the issue. As of May 2009, there are 66 applications for solar projects on public lands in the California Desert and 92 applications for wind projects on public lands in California, many in the desert. The total public land in California under consideration for alternative energy production exceeds 1.45 million acres.
The primary focus on utility-scale, remote generation and the transmission lines necessitated by this approach is an agenda being driven by large corporations, many of them international, who are the project applicants, as well as by large utilities, such as LADWP, who make money on controlling transmission lines. Transmission, solar, and wind project companies and utilities will only receive federal stimulus money if their projects are approved and ready for construction by the end of 2010 -- thus fueling their efforts to lobby for expedited processing.
This focus ignores the contribution that could be made by other alternative solutions, such as conservation, energy efficiency, use of already disturbed lands, and local generation as on rooftops using photovoltaic (PV) panels. There are better, greener ways to accomplish renewable energy goals, become energy independent, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and affect climate change.
As to the need to build new transmission lines, another aspect that is being undervalued is the additional capacity that will be available on existing lines as dirty, coal-fired energy is removed from these lines -- which is the main point of turning to renewable energy in the first place.
CA Desert BLM Renewable Energy Projects & Utility Corridors
CA BLM Solar Project Applications
CA BLM Wind Project Applications
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