The 'renewable' label on my local solar farm hides a dirtier truth

I drove past the Red Mesa Solar Farm outside Albuquerque last week and noticed something odd. The panels were sitting on a patch of land that used to be a juniper forest they clear-cut about 400 acres for it. Nobody in the news stories mentioned that part when they talked about clean energy. Anyone else see solar installations wiping out natural habitats near them?

3 comments

3 Comments

henryt181d ago

Check your local permitting records, most places require environmental impact studies before they clear land like that. You can usually file a complaint with the state energy office if they skipped that step. Have you looked up who owns the farm and what their original land-use permit said?

laura_black1d ago

Huh, henryt18 that's actually a solid point about the permits. I'd bet half those solar farms out west are just plopped down wherever they want. People don't realize how much red tape gets skipped when it gets too big to care.

emma961d ago

@henryt18 timber companies sometimes hold conservation easements that override energy permits.