Dept of Interior Reaffirms Its Commitment to Fully Developing Public Land Green Energy.

[WRO]

I get that you’re proving a very specific pedantic point, but can you enlighten me as to how solar panels impact wildlife more than oil derricks?

I did..

In case you need pictures..

Solar..

Ain’t shit cohabiting with those panels..


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[Presswood_936]

It’s not like they’re setting up solar farms in the back country. Next to a highway I would prefer shade panels over noisy oil derricks and fracking all day long. Fight me.

A drilling rig and fracking crew isn’t there long bud

 

[CJ19]

Hunters may ask where the support for these projects comes from and assume its just non hunters. Thats not necessarily the case.

National Wildlife Federation is one such hunter and wildlife group that support renewables on public land (www.nwf.org) and endorses the Biden Harris administrations rapid transition to large scale industrial renewable development of public lands to achieve 100% net zero carbon emissions:


The Biden Administration has set a goal to produce 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 as part of its long-term strategy to reach net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050. That pace of emissions reductions on a global scale is what will be needed to avoid surpassing the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit that scientists have indicated increases the risk of runaway climate change—a scenario in which we will have little control over global environmental changes like sea-level rise, extreme weather, drought, and wildfire. Doing so will require major investment in renewable energy resources, battery and other energy storage technology, emerging technologies such as clean hydrogen, and new transmission lines. It will also require responsibly procuring the critical minerals needed to create solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, and other renewable technologies at scale. The National Wildlife Federation has been pushing Congress to fund these needed investments. Various proposals have been put forth in Congress to hasten the transition through policies like a Clean Electricity Standard that would require energy companies to deliver increasing amounts of zero-carbon electricity over time. Such a federal program would build off of the many state-level clean electricity or renewable portfolio standards that have been put in place in recent decades. -NWF website. NWF.ORG

 

[2531usmc]

If solar was the answer, they could give each home in America a solar setup, and probably save money compared to what they are giving in subsidies on these contracts


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If solar was economically viable, every wal mart and McDonald’s would have solar panels on the roof

 

[WRO]

It’s not like they’re setting up solar farms in the back country. Next to a highway I would prefer shade panels over noisy oil derricks and fracking all day long. Fight me.

They’re actually trying to destroy a bunch of winter range and migration corridors here in Idaho with a solar project.

Lava ridge will significantly impact mule deer and antelope migrations.

 

[flathead#2]

Dont forget who we're dealing with here.
These are the people who are confused about what that
thing between their legs is.
And "follow the science".

 

[CJ19]

here is another first for green energy enjoyers. Oregons first off shore wind farms. If you are concerned with onshore solar, you may like off shore energy generation better. I have seen some saltwater fisherman like the windfarms because they may attract some fish species. Others see the negative impact such as bird danger or concern with sound pollution impact marine wildlife etc.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces First-Ever Wind Lease Sale Offshore Oregon | U.S. Department of the Interior

In the latest step by the Biden-Harris administration to support the growing momentum across America for a clean energy future, the Department of the Interior today announced it will hold an offshore wind energy lease sale off southern Oregon.

www.doi.gov

 

[Andrew12gauge]

If solar was economically viable, every wal mart and McDonald’s would have solar panels on the roof

Truth there too. As to the issue somebody pointed out above with all power going into the grid during peak usage but still having excess that isn’t usable during night hours, I know Idaho Power is building huge battery storage to store the power from their BLM solar farms, so why can’t they store power generated from rooftop solar?


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[CJ19]

In response to some of the forum users that had some different opinions about the expansion of solar. I wanted to provide a different prospective so you can appreciate that the concern by many public land hunters and not just a party line issue or something like that.

Reality. not theory. Was. not would be. Not worth conjecture.

It’s not like they’re setting up solar farms in the back country. Next to a highway I would prefer shade panels over noisy oil derricks and fracking all day long. Fight me.

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has been active on the issue of the solar plan. They have written several times about it on their website. They share their concerns specific to the solar plan here:

BLM’s Western Solar Plan Puts Western Big Game Herds at Risk | Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

Solar goals can be achieved & wildlife habitat conserved through modified BLM proposal.

www.trcp.org

Here is just 1 quote:

Americans can have both renewable energy and robust wildlife populations, but deliberate steps must be taken now to ensure that future. The preferred alternative in the draft plan (Alternative 3) identifies 22 million acres of your public lands to be made available for solar energy development, including 1.8 million acres of migration corridors and 4 million acres of winter range for some of the West’s most well-known big game herds and hunting destinations. Storied mule deer herds like the Paunsaugunt in Utah, the Kaibab in Arizona, and the Wyoming Range could suffer if this proposal is not modified.

Specifically to @squid-freshprints concerns, TRCP said the following in the article about COs part of the plan:

Colorado​

The proposed plan under Alternative 3 would make 548,225 acres of BLM-managed surface lands open for solar development in Colorado.

A significant proportion of these acres overlap high-value habitat for important elk, deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep herds in western Colorado. The overlap includes elk migration, severe winter range, and winter concentration areas for the Cold Springs elk herd in Colorado’s northwest corner GMUs 2, 10, and 201; as well as mule deer migration, severe winter range, and winter concentration areas for the White River Mule Deer Herd in the Piceance Basin in GMUs 11 and 22. The BLM’s proposal would also make high-value big game habitat available for future solar development in the Uncompahgre area, South Park, and the San Luis Valley. 

Follow the links to view maps of potential overlap in the Dinosaur, Uncompahgre, and Piceance areas as examples of areas at-risk.

I get that you’re proving a very specific pedantic point, but can you enlighten me as to how solar panels impact wildlife more than oil derricks?

Lastly, from the article since I think you may appreiciate TRCPs opinion more than users in the forum discussion. OG leasing covers a far greater extent of acreage for energy generation That development is often preferable for public land users to solar facilities because OG facilities, while not ideal, typically do not exclude wildlife and public land users from dual usage of that space:

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership recognizes the need for renewable energy sources, and we believe that development must be thoughtfully planned so that it does not adversely impact crucial fish and wildlife habitats and valued hunting and fishing areas. Utility-scale solar generating facilities are high-fenced to exclude both people and wildlife, creating a solid barrier to big game movements. For this reason, improperly sited facilities pose a disproportionate risk to migratory big game species and could be catastrophic for big game herds if located in the wrong place.

 

[cuerro viejo]

I get that you’re proving a very specific pedantic point, but can you enlighten me as to how solar panels impact wildlife more than oil derricks?

Solar is slash and burn High fenced deforestation. This used to be covered in trees, now it’s 3k acres of this

 

[swavescatter]

Solar is slash and burn High fenced deforestation. This used to be covered in trees, now it’s 3k acres of this View attachment 759389View attachment 759390

Where is that? Not saying I don’t believe you but it doesn’t look like timbered forest…

I’m also not a solar advocate per se; I’m a nuclear energy advocate. These solar farms generally go up near high traffic highways so as long as they fund some wildlife overpass deals I think it would net out versus fossil fuels.

None of this matters if we continue to cook this planet.

 

[william schmaltz]

I worked a few years as a roughneck in ND, so I’m by no means anti-oil. I’m sure you can find several guys who have shot deer next to drill pads, but anyone who claims it’s the same out there with a pad every 4 miles as it was 15 years ago is on crack rocks. No one ever talks about all the traffic; even post production. I spent two years trapping lions in the badlands. We would get literally hundreds of road killed mule deer to use as bait. All victims of oil field traffic. Essentially an unlimited number of dead deer. It was so bad that at one point we had to even do a sheep transport before they all fell victim to oil field traffic.

Solar sure doesn’t seem like the answer. Put panels on top of every building in cities if those people want it so bad.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Where is that? Not saying I don’t believe you but it doesn’t look like timbered forest…

I’m also not a solar advocate per se; I’m a nuclear energy advocate. These solar farms generally go up near high traffic highways so as long as they fund some wildlife overpass deals I think it would net out versus fossil fuels.

None of this matters if we continue to cook this planet.

Those trees are no longer there it’s all solar for miles. Not a paved road close. Complete ecosystem gone

They literally took a D10 dozer and had a hell of a bone fire.

A lot of these solar facilities are offsetting “carbon” from Mfg’s so Mfg companies get massive taxes breaks, via the inflation reduction act….

 

[CJ19]

Truth there too. As to the issue somebody pointed out above with all power going into the grid during peak usage but still having excess that isn’t usable during night hours, I know Idaho Power is building huge battery storage to store the power from their BLM solar farms, so why can’t they store power generated from rooftop solar?


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I worked a few years as a roughneck in ND, so I’m by no means anti-oil. I’m sure you can find several guys who have shot deer next to drill pads, but anyone who claims it’s the same out there with a pad every 4 miles as it was 15 years ago is on crack rocks. No one ever talks about all the traffic; even post production. I spent two years trapping lions in the badlands. We would get literally hundreds of road killed mule deer to use as bait. All victims of oil field traffic. Essentially an unlimited number of dead deer. It was so bad that at one point we had to even do a sheep transport before they all fell victim to oil field traffic.

Solar sure doesn’t seem like the answer. Put panels on top of every building in cities if those people want it so bad.

It has been explained to me many times that small panels patched together wouldnt be able to power a grid and would require a complete overhaul of the infrastructure and likely then might not work. I am not sure of the specifics, maybe that has all changed. I have heard that storage batteries like Andrew is referring does increase the utility and viability of solar for a variety of reasons including being able to storage energy generated by sporadic renewable sources such as wind or solar and then maintain a more consistent load on the system. This would limit what was essentially filled with fossil fuels during those periods. Again, im not engineer that deal with it but that is my 2nd grade level understanding of it. Maybe a real expert can explain it better.

 

[Rotnguns]

They’re actually trying to destroy a bunch of winter range and migration corridors here in Idaho with a solar project.

Lava ridge will significantly impact mule deer and antelope migrations.

I don't like Lava Ridge, but the proposal is for a wind farm, not solar panels. The BLM approved a "limited" EIS but it's going to court and it's facing very stiff opposition from many different organizations. I hope it never happens - it's a very foolish and shortsighted use of our federal lands.

 

[william schmaltz]

Please don’t make this post political. Listen to the last 12 minutes of this podcast. It’s exactly about this issue. It’s absolutely fantastic and I think most can resonate with it. One of the most influential and intelligent environmentalists of our generation going hard in the paint. I’ve never listened to Tuck because I purposely avoid partisan news, but have listened to a couple of his podcasts where he can be himself and they’ve been phenomenal.

 

[Superx3]

I am definitely STRONGLY against solar farms that cover thousand of acres, but I do believe that solar panels on roof tops or over parking lots are possible viable options. However, I do not know if with out tax credits they would ever pay. I’m planning on building a shop behind my house soon and am considering solar on the roof. I will have to dig deeper. Maybe the cost will go down and efficiency up!

 

[CJ19]

I am definitely STRONGLY against solar farms that cover thousand of acres, but I do believe that solar panels on roof tops or over parking lots are possible viable options. However, I do not know if with out tax credits they would ever pay. I’m planning on building a shop behind my house soon and am considering solar on the roof. I will have to dig deeper. Maybe the cost will go down and efficiency up!

i looked at putting solar on an out building to power it. estimate was ~15k but that was 7 yrs ago. Guy who gave me the estimate was up front and flat out said the exposure of the property to the sun light didnt make it worthwhile.

 

[Superx3]

i looked at putting solar on an out building to power it. estimate was ~15k but that was 7 yrs ago. Guy who gave me the estimate was up front and flat out said the exposure of the property to the sun light didnt make it worthwhile.

What general area is this? I’m in Texas. So far online calculators show 15 years to pay for it. Don’t know if I will be interested or not.

 

[CJ19]

im in PA