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Desert Protective Council News
Desert News September 2 2011
Posted by Chris Clarke on September 2, 2011
More Than 25,000 Acres of Protected Habitat Proposed for Coachella Milkvetch
Posted by Chris Clarke on August 24, 2011
Responding to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed protection of 25,704 acres of critical habitat for the endangered Coachella Valley milk vetch in Southern California. The new proposal includes four areas within the greater Coachella Valley in Riverside County, Calif., near Palm Springs. This new proposal recognizes that this rare plant, found only in the Coachella Valley, requires substantial habitat in order to ensure its survival and recovery.
URGENT: Ocotillo Express Wind Project Public Meetings 8/24-25
Posted by Chris Clarke on August 13, 2011
[A note from the DPC’s Conservation and Imperial Projects Coordinator Terry Weiner:]
Please circulate this notice broadly and try to attend one of these public scoping meetings on this massive 12,000 acre proposed wind farm which would forever alter this beautiful desert habitat; endanger flat-tailed horned lizards, golden eagles and other bird and bat species; destroy the quiet and dark skies and the wild and scenic beauty of the entire western Imperial County desert; destroy the view shed of the surrounding wilderness areas; potentially interfere with Peninsular Bighorn Sheep corridors; erode the quality of experience of the adjacent Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and ruin the rural quality of life and potentially the health of human residents of the Ocotillo Area.
We have 90 days to submit comments on this hideous proposal. Comments are due by October 5th. See document below the fold.
Terry
Solar Done Right on Travel Atmosphere podcast
Posted by Chris Clarke on August 7, 2011
Chris Clarke of the DPC and Solar Done right speaks about SDR on the Travel Atmosphere show. Listen here:
New York Times cites DPC on Chocolate Mountains solar proposal
Posted by Chris Clarke on July 21, 2011
The West Chocolate Mountains Renewable Energy Evaluation Area, currently under consideration by the BLM, comes under review by the New York Times.
SDG&E Sunrise Powerlink construction kills night skies
Posted by Chris Clarke on August 31, 2011
A report from the DPC’s Conservation and Imperial Projects Coordinator Terry Weiner on a disturbing aspect of SDG&E’s Sunrise Powerlink construction, below the fold.
Public Meeting Announced for Proposed Stateline Solar Farm in San Bernardino County
Posted by Chris Clarke on August 16, 2011
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced a public scoping meeting as part of the environmental review process for the Stateline Solar Farm energy project near the California-Nevada border in San Bernardino County, Calif. The meeting will be held from 6 - 9 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011, at the Primm Valley Golf Club, 1 Yates Well Road, Nipton, CA 92364.
Salazar OKs 550-MW Solar Project Next To Joshua Tree On Park’s 75th Anniversary
Posted by Chris Clarke on August 10, 2011
With no apparent sense of shame, the US Secretary of the Interior just gave the green light to a massive industrial solar project that would be surrounded on three sides by Joshua Tree National Park, today celebrating its 75th Anniversary. The Interior Department press release is below the fold.
DPC Visits the Chocolate Mountains
Posted by Chris Clarke on July 27, 2011
Some notes from the DPC’s Conservation and Imperial Projects Coordinator Terry Weiner on the proposed West Chocolate Mountains Renewable Energy Evaluation Area, based on a site visit she made last week.
New Wind Guidelines a Step Backwards for Wildlife
Posted by Chris Clarke on July 21, 2011
(Washington, D.C., July 20, 2011) American Bird Conservancy (ABC) — the nation’s leading bird conservation organization — today raised concerns about new draft Department of the Interior (DOI) guidelines for wind development that appear to have been overly influenced by energy industry lawyers and lobbyists. The new draft reverses agency protection recommendations for many bird species and adds unrealistic deadlines that would lead to “rubber-stamping” of wind projects. ABC expects millions of migratory birds to be harmed by poorly-planned wind energy.