Basin & Range Watch
Hiking......Solar Energy Issues.....Wind.....Alerts......Flora......Birding.......Wildlife......Cartoons.......Links......About Us......Guest Book
WELCOME
Basin and Range Watch is a group of volunteers who live in the deserts of Nevada and California, working to stop the destruction of our desert homeland. Industrial renewable energy companies are seeking to develop millions of acres of unspoiled habitat in our region. Our goal is to identify the problems of energy sprawl and find solutions that will preserve our natural ecosystems and open spaces. We support renewable energy but advocate for better national and state planning.
Come visit and experience the great beauty of spring wildflowers, vast open vistas, bird watching trails, and wildlife viewing.
Black-throated sparrow
Renewable Energy Projects We Are Following:
Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
BrightSource's solar thermal power tower proposal in Ivanpah Valley, San Bernardino County, California >>here
Check out this fun Google Video, showing BrightSource's 6 MW Pilot Project under construction in Israel on Green Beat (scroll down) >>here
Ivanpah Valley: BrightSource Heliostat Pole Testing Hitting Geology Problems >>here
NextLight Silver State South and North
Photovoltaic panel proposal in Ivanpah Valley, Clark County, Nevada >>here
Solar Millennium Amargosa Farm Road Project
Solar thermal parabolic trough proposal with storage in Amargosa Valley, Nye County, Nevada >>here
Solar Millennium Ridgecrest Project
Solar thermal parabolic trough proposal for Kern County, California, in the West Mojave Desert >>here. Updates page >>here
Ridgecrest Solar Power Project Suspended >>here
Solar Millennium Palen Project
Along with Chevron Energy Solutions, this is a 500 MW parabolic trough solar thermal power plant on a 5,200 acres public land Right-of-Way. In Chuckwalla Valley ten miles east of Desert Center, on good Mojave fringe-toed lizard habitat >>here
Site Visit in April - Wildflowers and Fringe-toed lizards >>here
Palen Solar Power Project June Site Visit and Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness >>here
Solar Millennium Blythe Project
Chevron Energy Solutions is cooperating to build this huge 1,000 MW parabolic trough solar thermal project in McCoy Wash, Riverside County with a 5,950 acre footprint. Cultural issues, Fringe-toed lizards, and Desert tortoise are concerns. >>here
Geoglyphs and Cultural Issues Addressed in Video >>here
Genesis Solar Energy Project
NextEra Energy proposes to build a 250-megawatt parabolic trough solar thermal plant near Ford Dry Lake in Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California. Water is a concern. >>here
Genesis Solar Energy Project Agrees to Pumping Less Groundwater by going Dry-cooled >>herel
Abengoa Lathrop Wells Solar Facility
In Amargosa Valley, Nevada, a 250-megawatt parabolic trough solar thermal plant that may be upgraded to 500 MW, with 70 MW photovoltaic. >>here
Calico Solar Project (SES Solar 1)
This project is larger than the city of Berkeley. Tessera's 850 MW Stirling dish project on 8,230 acres by the proposed Cady Mountains Wilderness, San Bernardino County, California >>here. Updates >>here
Sand Lizards of the Desert: Fringe-toed Lizards >>here
Imperial Valley Solar Project (SES Solar 2)
Tessera's Stirling dish project on 6,500 acres sited on archaeologically sensitive Colorado Desert with Flat-tailed horned lizards, west of El Centro, Imperial County, California >>here
Project Site Visit by Desert Protective Council >>here
Imperial Valley Photovoltaic Power Plant Proposal: Superstition Solar Project >>here
First Solar Desert Sunlight
Many applications for giant solar developments in this Colorado Desert area of Chuckwalla Valley in Riverside County, California >>here. Updates >>here
March Site Visit >>here
Pacific Solar Big Dune Photovoltaic Project
7,500-acre project in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, on rare and endemic beetle habitat >>here.
Owens Lake Solar project
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power seeks to control dust by industrializing part of this important migratory bird habitat in the Owens Valley, Inyo County, California >>here. Updates >>here
Searchlight Wind Energy Project
Duke Energy's proposal to place giant wind turbines over the Searchlight Hills, Clark County, Nevada >>here
Latest Wind Turbine Map for Searchlight Project >>here
Wind Farm Construction - Landscape Impacts >>here
Granite Mountain Wind Energy Project
RES proposal to place wind turbines on a roadless pristine mountain in San Bernardino County, California, home to the rare Ford's Indra swallowtail. >>here
Ocotillo Express Wind Facility
Pattern Energy's project on the boundary of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Imperial County, California >>here
Spring Valley Wind Energy Project
Pattern Energy wants to build up to 85 giant 400-foot tall wind turbines in Spring Valley east of Ely, Nevada, 12 miles from the boundary of Great Basin National Park. The site is home to Pygmy rabbits, Sage grouse, and Pronghorn antelope. DEADLINE for Comments January 15, 2010! >>here
Spring Valley Wind Project Environmental Assessment Out >>here
Mohave County Wind Farm Project
On the White Hills and fan next to Lake Mead National Recreation Area in northwestern Arizona, near Mt. Tipton Wilderness and by places where California condors have been sighted from Grand Canyon reintroductions >>here
Transmission Projects:
Green Path North Transmission Project
Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission Project
Southern California Edison proposal to upgrade and add lines in southern Nevada and eastern California in Ivanpah Valley, to deliver future renewable energy to coastal cities >>here
Sunrise Powerlink
Southern California proposed mega-powerline to supposedly link wind and solar in the eastern deserts and Baja to coastal cities in San Diego County, but also tied to fossil fuel >>here
Cleveland National Forest Approves Sunrise Powerlink >>here
Policy:
BLM Announces Solar Rental Fees for Public Land >>here
Governor's Renewable Energy Policy Conference
March 24, 2010 at UC Riverside, California: Expediting Solar and Wind in the Desert >>here
Expediting Big Solar: Padilla Bill Signed Into Law at Harper Lake (Where CSP Plants May Be Fighting Over Water) >>here
Nevada: American Solar Energy Pilot Leasing Act of 2010 >>here
Solar Energy Development on Federal Lands: The Road to Consensus
Congressional Field Hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Chaired by Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), hosted by Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs) >>here
Reid and Heller Introduce Competitive Lease Solar and Wind Bill for Public Lands >>here
Solar Energy Study Areas
Bureau of Land Management plan to designate renewable energy zones in the desert Southwest >>here
25-square-mile Solar Demonstration Zone on Nevada Test Site Announced >>here
Fast-Tracking Renewable Energy
California Renewable Energy Coordination Offices, Renewable Energy Action Team, and the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan >>here. California Fast-Track solar and wind projects >>here. November 2009 summary of projects in Chuckwalla Valley >>here; more projects >>here
Nevada Fast-Track Projects >>here
Senator Feinstein Bill: California Desert Protection Act of 2010
Proposal for Mojave Trails National Monument and Sands to Snow National Monument, some new wilderness areas, some wilderness study areas removed, and a giant plan for a Mitigation Zone for renewable energy projects >>here. Abengoa Solar and Cogentrix Energy support the bill, according to the California Wilderness Coalition
All Renewable Energy Issues >>here
^July 25, 2010 - Water birch (Betula occidentalis) over Middle Creek in the northeastern White Mountains, Nevada.
SolarReserve Power Tower Projects: Crescent Dunes, Nevada >>here
BLM's Final Environmental Impact Statement for Imperial Solar Project Out - Comments Needed >>here
Cultural Issues and Geoglyphs Addressed in Video for Blythe, Palen, and Genesis Solar Projects >>here
Molycorp Mine May Re-open for Rare Earths to supply Renewables >>here
BP Mohave County Wind Farm in Arizona Moves Forward >>here
Imperial Valley Solar Project Hearing Continues July 26-27 >>here
Spring Valley Wind Project Comments Due 8/18 >>here
Duke Calls Wind Energy a "Niche" Resource >>here
Precedent-Setter: California Energy Commission Recommends Yes on Beacon Solar Energy Project >>here
More Renewable Energy NEWS >>here
Hiking the Desert
|
||
Ibex Dunes, Death Valley National Park >>here Chuckwalla Valley and Chuckwalla Bench, CA >>here Chemehuevi Mountains Wilderness, CA >>here Stateline Wilderness, CA >>here Mount Tipton Wilderness, AZ >>here Mount Jefferson, Toquima Range, NV >>here Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, NV >>here
|
|
|
MINING NEWS >>here
Reward Mine Gets Permit >>here
"In the first place you can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you'll see something, maybe."
--Edward Abbey, 1967, Desert Solitaire
MORE CARTOONS >>here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|