The Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone recommends a strategy for compensating for certain unavoidable impacts that are expected from the development of the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) in southern Nevada.I guess Bundy was an 'avoidable impact':
The resource values found in the Gold Butte ACEC are threatened by: unauthorized activities, including off-road vehicle use, illegal dumping, and trespass livestock grazing; wildfire; and weed infestation. Existing burned areas, unauthorized roads and trails, and areas disturbed by other activities await funding for rehabilitation. Neutralizing these threats and restoring altered ecological systems are the focus of the regional mitigation proposed for this area.They're just following their game plan.The restoration goals in the Gold Butte ACEC are to: 1. Prevent further degradation of the ACEC, and ensure the durability of the conservation investment by: a. Augmenting BLM law enforcement capacity sufficient to maintain ranger patrols in the ACEC. b. Providing a monitor to track activities in and impacts to the ACEC. c. Building the capacity to respond in a timely manner to activities that threaten resource values. d. Providing treatment for noxious weeds and maintaining fuel breaks to protect the area.
It looks to me like they invented an 'endangered' rating for the desert tortoise, got an ACEC (Areas of Critical Environmental Concern) rating for the lands and have been plotting a land grab for years, most recently developing this Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) scheme to pay for 'mitigation costs' under the aegis of 'preserving the land' and 'climate change abatement'. It is obvious to me that there is big money involved here...
(has anyone with more time than I discovered how they could have culled all those desert tortoises last year without sanction from the EPS, BLM or whatever 3-letter group would engage that?)
Thanks