WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2016 - The Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) has finalized
a new rule governing solar and wind energy development on public lands, drawing
criticism from the wind energy industry but praise from some conservation
groups.
The Interior Department, which oversees BLM, says the rule
will support renewable energy development through competitive leasing processes
and create incentives to encourage development in “suitable areas.”
“This new rule not only provides a strong foundation for the
future of energy development on America’s public lands, but is an important and
exciting milestone in our ongoing efforts to tap the vast solar and wind energy
resources across the country,” says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
But the American Wind Energy Association has
expressed concerns over the rule, asserting that it will add time,
uncertainty, complexity and expense to a process that was “already more
difficult than developing on private lands,” in effect making federal lands
even less attractive to wind energy developers.
The rule supports development in areas with the “highest
generation potential and fewest resource conflicts,” Interior says. However,
AWEA says the rule penalizes projects pursued outside of designated zones, stressing
that there are currently no designated zones for wind energy – and there may
not be for years.
The group calls this “discriminatory treatment” that places
wind energy at a competitive disadvantage to energy sources that already have
such areas designated and can benefit from the rule’s incentives to develop in
those areas.
“This rule will only serve to further discourage wind
development on public lands, contrary to BLM’s stated intent,” says Tom Vinson,
AWEA’s vice president of federal regulatory affairs.
Conservation groups and others, however, are praising
the rule. The Wilderness Society (TWS), for example, said
the rule will expedite renewable energy projects on less-sensitive public lands,
and also “minimizes environmental impacts from new energy infrastructure.”
“The rule is important for renewable energy and wildlands, because
it creates a streamlined process that gears development towards land with low
environmental conflict,” TWS said
BLM says the rule will support the full range of development
activities anticipated across the lands it manages. The agency anticipates that
the competitive leasing provisions will help
renewable energy development flourish on the 700,000 acres
of public lands that have been identified in Arizona, California, Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
“The BLM is incredibly proud of the work we’ve done over the
last eight years supporting wind and solar development,” says BLM Director Neil
Kornze. “We went from only a handful of approved projects in 2008 to a robust
program with over 15,000 megawatts approved, six times the amount we had
approved in the 25 prior years.”
#30
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