Posted on 04/14/2014 11:03:38 PM PDT by SatinDoll
PRIMM, Nevada – As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above approach to energy, today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar “flipped the switch” on the Enbridge Silver State North solar project, the first large-scale solar energy facility on U.S. public lands to deliver power to American consumers.
This milestone is in line with the administration’s broad commitment to expanding production of all sources of American made energy, including from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, which has doubled in the President’s first term, as well as domestic production of oil and gas resources, which have increased each year the President has been in office.
“This is a landmark day for solar energy and for the nation,” Salazar said at the dedication ceremony with state and company officials. “Silver State North was the first solar project we approved on public lands in Nevada and --18 months later -- the first of our priority projects to provide clean energy to the power grid. This is a model of industry and government working together to strengthen local economies, generating good jobs and affordable, reliable and sustainable power.”
The Interior Department has undertaken an unprecedented approach to permitting renewable energy on public lands. Prior to 2009, there were no solar energy projects permitted on public lands. Under Secretary Salazar and Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey’s leadership, Interior has authorized 29 large-scale renewable energy projects on or involving public lands, including 16 solar facilities, 5 wind farms, and 8 geothermal plants. When completed, these projects will provide more than 6,500 megawatts of power to communities across the West, enough to power more than 2 million homes.
“Public lands provide Americans with vital mineral and agricultural resources, as well as recreational opportunities that help power local economies and generate jobs around the nation,” said Bob Abbey, Director of the Bureau of Land Management. “Today in Clark County, Nevada, we are adding solar energy to that public lands’ portfolio of benefits. This project symbolizes a new partnership between government and industry that can responsibly tap the immense renewable energy resources of this great state, provide clean, reliable power to homes and businesses, and open a new chapter in the beneficial use of our nation’s public lands.”
Located 40 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada, Silver State North is a 50-megawatt plant that will use photovoltaic technology to generate enough power for about 9,000 Nevada homes. Developed by First Solar and owned by Enbridge, the project employed more than 380 construction workers during peak construction and 650 individuals over the course of the project. NV Energy has a power purchase agreement to sell the solar project’s electricity to the Nevada market.
By harnessing the area’s vast solar resources, the Silver State North facility generates electricity with no air emissions, no waste production, and no water use. The plant, using technology with the smallest carbon footprint of any PV solar system, displaces about 42,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent of taking 8,000 cars off the road. The project site is strategically located near a major transmission hub.
Constructed on 618 acres of public land managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, the solar project underwent full environmental analysis and public review. The BLM worked closely with federal, state and local partners, members of the environmental and conservation community, and interested stakeholders to protect wildlife and advance this environmentally sound project. First Solar and the BLM worked in concert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a relocation/translocation plan for desert tortoises found on the site. The BLM also required a natural color palette for painted structures and controlled night lighting, designed to reduce visual impacts on the local community.
The Bureau of Land Management oversees more than 2.5 million acres in Clark County, Nevada, including over 1.1 million acres managed for conservation. This includes over 709,000 acres of habitat the BLM has designated primarily for the conservation of the threatened desert tortoise.
Guess who owns the water rights to that land: I suspect it is the Bundy family!
The above is a Public Relations release from the BHO2 Administration dated back in the Spring of 2012. Yes, I know it is 2-years old, but this gives everyone an idea of how long this has been in the planning.
So has the price of beef...
How many ranchers lost their land for this?
Given that cowpies delivered across the desert by cattle, promote turtle pop growth, one would expect that the BLM would pay Cliven Bundy to run his cattle across the local BLM allotments.
Yup, seems tome that cowpies would draw in a lot of bugs for the poor turtles to munch on.
According to a poster at Market-ticker.org, forty-eight.
Also found this:
“There have been a lot of people criticizing Clive Bundy because he did not pay his grazing fees for 20 years. The public is also probably wondering why so many other cowboys are supporting Mr. Bundy even though they paid their fees and Clive did not. What you people probably do not realize is that on every rancher’s grazing permit it says the following: “You are authorized to make grazing use of the lands, under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and covered by this grazing permit, upon your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this grazing permit and payment of grazing fees when due.” The “mandatory” terms and conditions go on to list the allotment, the number and kind of livestock to be grazed, when the permit begins and ends, the number of active or suspended AUMs (animal units per month), etc. The terms and conditions also list specific requirements such as where salt or mineral supplements can be located, maximum allowable use of forage levels (40% of annual growth), etc., and include a lot more stringent policies that must be adhered to. Every rancher must sign this “contract” agreeing to abide by the TERMS AND CONDITIONS before he or she can make payment. In the early 90s, the BLM went on a frenzy and drastically cut almost every rancher’s permit because of this desert tortoise issue, even though all of us ranchers knew that cow and desert tortoise had co-existed for a hundred+ years. As an example, a family friend had his permit cut by 90%. For those of you who are non ranchers, that would be equated to getting your paycheck cut 90%. In 1976 there were approximately 52 ranching permittees in this area of Nevada. Presently, there are 3. Most of these people lost their livelihoods because of the actions of the BLM. Clive Bundy was one of these people who received extremely unfair and unreasonable TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Keep in mind that Mr. Bundy was required to sign this contract before he was allowed to pay. Had Clive signed on the dotted line, he would have, in essence, signed his very livelihood away. And so Mr. Bundy took a stand, not only for himself, but for all of us. He refused to be destroyed by a tyrannical federal entity and to have his American liberties and freedoms taken away. Also keep in mind that all ranchers financially paid dearly for the forage rights those permits allow - - not rights to the land, but rights to use the forage that grows on that land. Many of these AUMS are water based, meaning that the rancher also has a vested right (state owned, not federal) to the waters that adjoin the lands and allow the livestock to drink. These water rights were also purchased at a great price. If a rancher cannot show beneficial use of the water (he must have the appropriate number of livestock that drinks and uses that water), then he loses that water right. Usually water rights and forage rights go hand in hand. Contrary to what the BLM is telling you, they NEVER compensate a rancher for the AUMs they take away. Most times, they tell ranchers that their AUMS are “suspended,” but not removed. Unfortunately, my family has thousands of “suspended” AUMs that will probably never be returned. And so, even though these ranchers throughout the course of a hundred years invested thousands(and perhaps millions) of dollars and sacrificed along the way to obtain these rights through purchase from others, at a whim the government can take everything away with the stroke of a pen. This is the very thing that Clive Bundy single-handedly took a stand against. Thank you, Clive, from a rancher who considers you a hero.”
-Kena Lytle Gloeckner”
When government ceases working for the people who pay their salaries, it is time for new management.
24 page report, including many maps. Silver State South will will run on three sides of Silver State North
October 31, 2013
FIRST SOLAR SELLS 250MW SILVER STATE SOUTH PROJECT TO A SUBSIDIARY OF NEXTERA ENERGY RESOURCES (sorry for the caps, it’s how the headline came)
http://investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=803293
On public land ?
Will they pay no property taxes?
How much does China own?
OH boy! 50 megawatts, we’re saved! and all it took was 5 square miles of land?
The coal fired plant in Jacksonville can produce 640 megawatts from each of its two generators and on an area of 1.5 to two square miles that includes a habitat area as well.
The saddest thing is that each and every one of those panels will need to be replaced in 10 years or less.
Reid’s political cunning lets him be directed by the INSIDERS, whose aim is to create (1) Chinese colonization of American land through unconstitutional purchase, and (2) create an energy and food famine to lower the standard of living of Americans for a comfortable merger with neighboring third world nations under the North American Union under the United Nations.
Reid is well protected by public opinion, molded by the INSIDER-controlled mass media. He’s thwarted FBI ivestigations more than once. He’s fe-man who can do whatever he wants with no consequences.
The man is a sociopath along with the Clintons, the Obama’, Pelosi, Reid...
http://www.westernjournalism.com/exclusive-investigative-reports/harry-reids-dirty-laundry/
http://www.americanmafia.com/inside_vegas/1-29-07_Inside_Vegas.html
Nope. Maybe 20 or 30 yrs.
Informative post. Thank you.
Wow, a 50-megawatt plant.
That’s 50 MW nameplate.
The capacity factor for solar in Arizona, Nevada etc is about 19%. So it works out as a 10 MW plant.
Plus the electricity from it is going to be insanely expensive.
That’s a great post! Thanks for sharing. It’s the best explanation of Bundy’s situation I’ve seen. And it comes from a rancher.
At the very best in a lab. Outside with the heat and sand . . . They just don’t like blowing sand, and also long periods without rain will lend to silt buildup that the rain just wont wash off whenever it comes so that added layer also affects the output of each panel.
Grazing animals, in general when well managed, greatly IMPROVE the land by increasing soil fertility. An not just from their poop, but from their behaviors as well.
The other failure factor in that environment is the heat. Being that the cells are soldered together, I know from experience that the heat out there will start to create cold solder joints from the solder going to a semi fluid state, especially the low lead solders required for manufacturing today. I have a factory installed digital display in my truck in a little overhead center console hat I take out once a year to re-solder the surface mount solder joints so I can see the readout. It seems to fade every year during the Florida summers.
This could very well be an even bigger maintenance headache than the windmills.
The public has the mis conception that solar cells do better in a hot environment. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet our gov’t is full scale ahead on putting these “monuments to ignorance” in every desert environment they can steal.
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