Desert solar farms . . . plenty of sun, but big shortage of water

Ralph Maughan

Putting sun-powered electrical generation in the sunny desert seems like a natural, except deserts are dry-

Desert clash in West over solar potential, water. By Rita Beamish. Associated Press Writer

Posted

April 21, 2009

in

Las Vegas, Public Lands

by

Ralph Maughan

Tags:

Comments

kt

April 21, 2009

Yes. Like solar development by greedhead Harvey Whittemore, a developer that Harry Reid’s special favors have rained down upon in all kinds of special legislative gifts.

Whittemore bought the Geyser Ranch north of Pioche so he could pipe water from thee south to the infamous Coyote Springs development. Then the economy went bust, and now no one wants to live in a destructive development in the middle of nowhere – so now Whittemore wants to use the piped, exported water for one of these horrid industrial solar facilities. Oh yes, and a very large public lands grazing permit went along with that property purchased for water. Ely BLM BLM recently rubber-stamped a 10-year grazing permit for the Geyser Ranch that contains habitat critical to declining sage-grouse on the southern edge of their range. See http://www.westernwatersheds.org/legal/2009/01/wwp-litigates-blm-grazing-decisions-across-great-basin-core-sage-grouse-habitat .

Author

Ralph Maughan

hynd12001@gmail.com

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.