BLM Takes Major Step to Bring Solar Energy to Lincoln County
Organization
BLM Office:
Media Contact:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today released the Draft Regional Mitigation Strategy for the 25,069-acre Dry Lake Valley North Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The BLM is asking the public to review and provide comments on the draft strategy, which can be found on the Dry Lake Valley North Project Website at http://blmsolar.anl.gov/sez/nv/dry-lake-valley-north/ during the 30-day comment period.The draft strategy builds on the success of the Dry Lake SEZ regional mitigation strategy pilot project, which provided developers with certainty regarding the cost of mitigation and ensured that residual impacts of solar projects in the SEZ would be addressed through offsite mitigation. The strategy was integral to the recent permitting success of the Dry Lake SEZ, enabling three solar energy projects to be permitted within ten months of the competitive lease sale, about half the time of previous reviews. The projects are expected to generate between 440 MW of solar power and create up to 1,900 jobs.Each of the 19 SEZs established by BLM is required to have a compensatory mitigation strategy, according to the Record of Decision for the Western Solar Plan.The Dry Lake Valley North SEZ is the largest of the 5 SEZs in Nevada and, when fully built, could produce up to 4,000 MW of renewable energy. It is located about 15 miles west of Pioche and 15 miles northwest of Caliente. The SEZ is framed by the North Pahroc Range to the west, and the West Range, Bristol Range, Highland Range, Ely Springs Range, Black Canyon Range, and Burnt Springs Range to the east.BLM requests comments by August 14, 2015. Written comments may be submitted to the BLM Ely District Office, HC 33 Box 33500, Ely, NV, 89301, Attn: Dan Netcher or via email to dnetcher@blm.gov.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.