Posted on 09/25/2014 12:07:28 AM PDT by blueplum
PALM SPRINGS – With giant windmills rotating behind her Tuesday, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced a sweeping land-use plan for energy development in California’s deserts that seemed more like a promise than a strategy.
:snip: The plan is a state-federal collaboration five years in the making, she said. It encompasses some 22.5 million acres mostly in Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
It will create energy zones for large-scale solar, wind and geothermal projects on land considered of little importance to wildlife and other natural resources. These zones will be home to the projects that help the U.S. combat climate change while also creating thousands of jobs, Jewell said.
The plan also will create new conservation areas “that should never be developed,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at pe.com ...
What the DI misses, I think, is that while the desert may be of 'little importance' to wildlife, it has a whole lot of importance for humans to recreate. As for conservation, I'd care for 150 turtles for a whole lot less than 22 large.
If a Liberal wanted to, they could put an end to this project immediately. But, since its the liberals who want this, 22.5 million acres will be covered with windmills and solar panels.
Ahhh liberals. The stupidest most emotionally driven and retartet morons ever to populate the country. The land is only useless to everyone but liberals. If some farmer wanted to build a stock pond it would be shut down immediately. If a homeowner wanted to collect rain water in a barrel he would be fined. If a rancher accidently kills a bald eagle he would be thrown in federal prison for the rest of his life.
BUT, companies like GE and Vestas lobby and bribe the federal government to install bird chopping eyesores on land that is off limits to everyone else liberals wet their drawers.
“on land considered of little importance to wildlife and other natural resources. ”
Oh really?
Millions and millions of animals, fish, snakes, tarantula and a jillion other life forms live in tbe desert.
Aren’t they in peril by these dumb projects that produce so little in return compared to coal, gas and nuclear?
What an asinine statement.
There are frickin coyote, rabbits, fox, deer, goats, eagles, osprey, butterflies that live in these areas and it is proven they are slaughtered unnecessarily by wind and solar devices and farms which dismember, blind and cook then to say the least.
Further, these are public lands which will be off limits to the public to support the interests of very poorly run “private” so called businesses.
And we can’t complete a pipeline from Canada to Cushing, OK?
That thing just stands there doing nothing with demonstrably less impact to the environment and does not remove millions of acres from use by the citizens who own the land, as well private land owners.
Jerk off liars.
Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/21/feinstein-dont-spoil-desert-solar-panels/
democrats such as Feinstein are already on record opposing solar in addition to wind, fossil, coal an nuclear power.
How much of this "worthless" government land used to be productive, private land?
And still won’t be nearly as efficient or cost effective as conventional methods. What the libtards fail to realize is that they’re being played by politicians who make all kinds of fluff money by brokering deals between the Feds and the alternate energy power companies for “campaign donations” so they can operate within the state. This among other sleazy political dealings...
Most of it needs water for agricultural use.
Much of it lies within active fault zones.
Implicit hidden costs are metals theft, replacement/demolition costs upon obsolescence or system end of life, and system maintenance. These tend to be high costs for these systems which make them viable only if subsidized.
i.e. they are losing projects. The bigger the project, ultimately, the larger the loss.
Do not fear; this grandiose project will never be completed. It is simply Sylyndra on a bigger scale, making it possible for the Left to funnel a trillion dollars to the economy of the largest Democrat state heading for bankruptcy. California’s failed welfare state would be Exhibit A to the world that Democrats are incapable, so it must be put on the life support of federal funding camouflaged as environmentalism.
Imperial Valley: The last cotton gin closed in 2009. Cotton used to be 1/4 of the agriculture in Imperial County but it is water intensive, needing a third of an inch of water a day midseason. Here’s an old Times article:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us/19cotton.html
The rest was/remains green groceries, hay, dairy and sheep. All dependent on water and low energy costs. 400 of 800 USA species of birds spend time in Imperial Valley at some point during the year. Not a great place for, say, windmills or solar. The Salton Sea is a whole basket of issues.
Riverside County in 1988 was the 4th largest producer of ag in Calif. Dropped out of the top 13 by 2009 when farm income hit it’s lowest level in 14 years - and it hasn’t improved. Some horse and goat farms are hanging on. Causes of decline: overregulation is rocketing energy and water costs. Here’s a Valley News article from 2011: http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/54358/
here’s another story, pointing out that between 2006 and 2008 Calif lost farmland equivalent to the area of New York City, more than a quarter of a million acres, Reason: overregulation of water: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/20/region-report-shows-farmland-declines-in-san/
San Bernadino county accounts for a lot of urban and a lot of high desert but a lot of that desert was productive. Its industry used to be milk/eggs/meat and some vegetables. The Chino Valley held about half a million dairy cows and was “the most intensive milk producing area in the world.” Producing milk is water intensive. Dairies were overregulated out of business. Here’s an article about the county intending to sell to a developer what was trust ag land:
http://sbsentinel.com/2014/08/proposed-county-sale-of-dairy-property-hastening-ag-demise/
Here’s a 2007 crop report showing the SB ag industry was already in it’s 4th year of decline and it was water-driven, including fruit and hay production. Culling of the dairy and meat herds had begun as had water-intensive crops like tomatoes, corn and cucumbers. Poultry fryer/roaster production took the greatest hit, from 617,000 units to 20,000 between 2006 and 2007.
https://cms.sbcounty.gov/Portals/13/CropReports/2007CropReport.pdf
Need to find a bug or a worm or something that lives there and scream bloody murder.
A multi million acre sand box for liberals to farm taxes.
Latest tax scam...
Should we ever be subjected to an EMP event by nuclear weapon, the sharp and power rise time of that pulse will instantly destroy every PV solar cell within direct line of sight of it, and even beyond.
On the other hand, it is impossible to know what specific equipment of conventional utility power infrastructure will be damaged and which will not.
Because of this vulnerability, it is just imprudent to have too much of utility power supplied by PV solar.
What Californicate should do (no that’s not misspelled) is to immediately close all power plants within their stare and terminate all power being delivered from power plants out of state and then rely SOLELY upon solar power for their electrical needs.
They could set the example for he world and we could finally get rid of the earth destroying gas, oil and coal generating plants that are destroying this fragile earth.
Of course they would have to adjust their living habits to coincide with the wind and night and day issues with the solar daily cycles, but hey! They can adjust to riding animals for transportation, stopping all activities when it gets dark or the wind stops blowing, and simply “going back in time” as all electrical apparatus and their results (like light bulbs not working as the electrical system shuts down for the day) so they can really, really enjoy living like “cave men” and actually think they are saving the world.
The next step is to isolate California from infecting the rest of the states by building an ELECTRIC fence around the state to prevent any more Californicatians from tainting the rest of the population of the U.S..
Of course, the fence will be electrified by standard gas, oil and coal fired power plants so that 24 hour power would always be available.
/sarc
You can bet your a$$ if someone wanted to build a nuclear power plant on that land the wildlife and other natural resources would not be "considered of little importance".
There are all kinds of recreational use: shooting, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, climbing, horseback riding, atv riding, etc
But if you complain about using these lands to produce wind or solar power you sound like a phony because these lands are used to produce oil, gas, coal, hydropower, and thermal.
My complaints are about using an unreliable expensive source of energy. Once these windmills go up the areas are closed off. The ignored lobbying efforts and downright bribery of windmill companies is a dirty secret the MSN has self censored. The Cochella valley is filled with old decrepit non working windmills from 30 and 40 years ago. Same on Altamont pass, Hawaii, and Columbia Gorge.
My point was to point out that when Estas or Siemens comes in with buckets of money the libs, environmentalists, and government agencies that LOVE coming after you and I will grab their ankles faster than a reporter at the Obama white house. No one would complain if one of the new windmills chopped up a California Condor but if a motorcyclist accidentally hits one he’s a federal criminal immediately.
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