[Vision2020] Trump administration takes aim at California desert protection plan

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times at:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-desert-solar-20180201-story.html

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Trump administration takes aim at California desert protection plan

The Trump administration is threatening to scrap a major Obama-era agreement that sought to protect millions of acres of the California desert by placing sensitive areas off-limits to major solar- and wind-energy installations.

The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan covers more than 10 million acres and was designed to guide energy facilities to parcels where they are least likely to cause environmental damage. The administration's announcement that it will reconsider the plan touched off an immediate backlash.

"Scrapping the plan now is a complete waste of time and money, and I oppose this," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco).

The move by the administration comes as some energy firms complained the plan was too restrictive, placing off-limits land they have been seeking to develop.

The bid to revise the plan threatens to set off new tensions between conservation groups crusading to protect desert habitat and solar and wind developers eager to meet the West's escalating demand for clean energy.

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A desert tortoise sits in the middle of a road in the eastern Mojave Desert near Ivanpah. The Trump administration wants to reconsider a desert protection plan negotiated under the Obama administration that sought to steer energy development away from sensitive areas.

http://www.moscowcares.com/Photos/LA_Times/LA_Times_020118_Desert_Tortoise.jpg

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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