Feds find BrightSource solar project will not jeopardize desert tortoise

Forbes ^ | June 14, 2011 | Todd Woody

[bert]

In the current issue of Forbes, I write about how the iconic and imperiled desert tortoise could prove problematic for some of the dozen big solar power plants approved for construction in the Mojave Desert in California and Nevada.

In April, federal officials, for instance, ordered BrightSource Energy to halt work on part of its 370-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System after biologists found more desert tortoises at the project than the 32 predicted. Revised projections had estimated there could be as many as 162 adult tortoises and 608 juvenile tortoises on the 5.6-square-mile construction site in the Mojave Desert about 40 miles south of Las Vegas.

[bert]

another snip

But a close read of the 108-page document shows that BrightSource, an Oakland, Calif.-based startup, is going to be in the desert tortoise business for at least the next decade. And it provides plenty of fodder for environmentalists concerned about the consequences of other huge solar power plants planned for the Ivanpah Valley and elsewhere.

[bert]

Although there are only a few hundred adults, there are thousands of juveniles to be reckoned with.

[gimme1ibertee]

How convenient... A species of turtle will not be endangered by a solar power plant,but if it were oil drilling,you better believe the EPA would be howling like harp seals over the possible eradication of the blue-bellied turd worm.
Wind farms shouldn't expect any resistance either,regardless of the fact that birds fly into the turbine blades and are killed on a regular basis.

[snoringbear]

“And sure enough, late Friday the United States Fish and Wildlife Service allowed construction to proceed, finding in a revised biological opinion that Ivanpah would not jeopardize the continued existence of the tortoise, which is listed as a threatened species under the U.S. and California endangered species acts”

Well, of course the government isn't going to shut down a solar project. And, of course, the tortoise has been reevaluated as not an endangered species. However, the EPA via the Permian Basin Sand Lizard is about to shut down exploration and drilling in a large part of west Texas and eastern New Mexico (an area approx the size of Minnesota). And, the EPA is about to do the same thing in the Texas Trans Pecos area by declaring the Pecos River snail endangered. Oh, almost forgot, the EPA is attempting to shut down much of the Gulf of Mexico from exploration and drilling by declaring a small sea horse as endangered. And, of course, the EPA is after coal produced energy hard and fast too. So, anything hydrocarbon is the mortal enemy of the the Obama and his Enviro-Nazis for sure...

[smokingfrog]

Harry Reid promised me that the tortoises would be okay.

[G Larry]

Yes, Sen. Di FI and her Sierra Club friends have lied to you about their support for “renewable energy”.
They have been blocking this for years!

[ctdonath2]

Yup. One big lie about “green energy” is that it’s harmless to the environment. You’d better believe strip-mining solar energy from 5 square miles is going to impact the local environment, and once solar (or wind, or whatever) power approaches viable on a large scale, greenies will oppose those very same technologies they’ve advocated when not viable.

[Erik Latranyi]

Another example of liberal government picking winners and losers by using the environment as a club.

Don’t worry, Sierra Club, once all the coal plants, nuclear plants and refineries are shut down, they will go after the solar farms and windmills.

Liberals will be move on to other inefficient energy ideas that only serve to funnel money back to the DNC.

[bassmaner]

Don’t worry, Sierra Club, once all the coal plants, nuclear plants and refineries are shut down, they will go after the solar farms and windmills.

The bastards won't be satisfied until we're all freezing in the dark. Of course, there will be special dispensations made for the political and Hollyweird nomenklatura classes, though ...

[UCANSEE2]

Although there are only a few hundred adults, there are thousands of juveniles to be reckoned with.

And that's just in Congress.

[Mike Darancette]

Revised projections had estimated there could be as many as 162 adult tortoises and 608 juvenile tortoises on the 5.6-square-mile construction site in the Mojave Desert about 40 miles south of Las Vegas.

Extrapolating that there are 137 tortoises per square mile and there are thousands of square-miles not effected by this project it should be OK to go ahead.

Seems there are many more tortoises than originally thought. Maybe tortoises should not be considered endangered in that range.

[Mike Darancette]

Out west solar power makes more much more sense than wind power.

[TexasRepublic]

I always heard, “Take a lemon and make lemonade”. Okay, lets take a turtle and make turtle soup.

[winodog]

I have a nagging feeling that China is the owner behind the smoke screens of all these big solar projects.