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Dive brief:
- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released its proposed updated Western Solar Plan on Thursday, designating more than 31 million acres of public land in 11 states open to utility-scale solar development.
- The plan adds about 9 million acres beyond the original 22 million acres proposed by the BLM earlier this year.
- Solar projects on public land will still have to undergo site-specific environmental reviews, but the new Western Solar Plan should help speed up the permitting process, moving development away from areas with potential conflicts, according to a statement from the ‘Biden administration.
Diving knowledge:
The BLM is set to open more public lands to solar development than previously thought with Thursday’s release of its proposed updated Western Solar Plan.
Under the plan, solar developers can consider sites within 15 miles of existing or proposed transmission lines, except in areas designated by the BLM as having a high probability of contact with other terrestrial resources, including sensitive areas of wildlife and cultural. The BLM’s original proposal, released in January, suggested a 10-mile restriction that would have limited solar development to about 22 million acres, though there were proposals spanning as much as 55 million acres.
Both plans were intended to revise the BLM’s original 2012 Western Solar Plan, primarily by adding areas designated for development in five states not covered by the original plan: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. The agency has approved 29 GW of renewable energy projects so far, surpassing the Biden administration’s goal of 25 GW, according to an agency news release.
“The updated Western Solar Plan is a responsible and pragmatic strategy for developing solar energy on our nation’s public lands that supports national clean energy goals and long-term national energy security,” said Director BLM Tracy Stone-Manning in a statement. “It will drive responsible solar development to places with less potential conflict while helping the nation transition to a clean energy economy, furthering the BLM’s mission to maintain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
Ben Norris, vice president of regulatory affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association, hailed the plan’s expansion as a “step in the right direction,” but said fossil fuel industries still have access to “more than 80 million acres of public land, 2.5 times the amount of public land available for solar.”
“One of the fastest ways to decarbonize our grid is to give the green light to well-planned clean energy development on federal lands, and the improvements in this environmental review document will certainly help,” Norris said in a statement. “We will continue to work with BLM and other federal agencies to promote responsible clean energy development on public lands and streamline the permitting process.”
While some environmental groups opposed parts of January’s proposal on the grounds that it opened up unsuitable and fragile ecosystems to solar development, The Wilderness Society also praised the final rule for opening up public lands to renewable energy while protecting them ecologically critical areas.
The proposed plan faces a 30-day protest period and a 60-day governors’ consistency review, according to the BLM. After resolving any issues identified in the review phase, the BLM will publish a record of the decision and final amendments to the resource management plan, the agency said.
