[MAHB Admin]

What is the collective impact to society from the current and projected preoccupation with solar generation, including land footprint, impact to wildlife, use of harsh chemicals, lack of recycling, and required pairing with storage options?

[Heather Matteson]

That’s a lot of questions.
First, I love the desert. I grew up in Arizona, and even now when I go back, I’m amazed at the teeming life that I find on hikes and river adventures. It’s an amazing place. And in some places, it’s a delicate place. I don’t like to trample the living crust. I don’t like solar farms in the Mojave desert that claim to be “green”, but really displace (and usually kill) large quantities of desert tortises and create huge eyesores for everything within sight on the spacious horizons (and birds/pilots in the air).

[Heather Matteson]

I’m specifically thinking of Ivanpah, but I know that it’s a particularly bad example. It would take about 17 Ivanpah’s to generate the same amount of power as diablo canyon, and that would take 67 times as much land! The plant relies heavily on natural gas backup. We have to be really careful how we choose to go forward and look at all the impacts to all the values we care about.

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