Now that the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan has said aside public lands for solar, experts say private land is next. Reporter David Haldane explains…
Get ready to fight climate change.
Last week government officials signed the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, setting aside 600 square miles of federal land for energy development zones.
Soon, says Kim Delfino, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife, the same will happen to private lands deemed suitable for renewable energy development.
“The idea is that the more degraded lands will have a role to play in hopefully being where projects get built. And the more intact desert lands— which actually have a climate benefit because it sequesters carbon—those will remain intact.”
With LA, Inyo and Imperial counties already involved, says Erica Brand, state energy program director for the Nature Conservancy, the focus will now shift to the Mojave Desert straddling the counties of San Bernardino and Kern.
“California is leading by example and showing the world that we can have a strong clean-energy economy while protecting nature.”
