Skip to main content
Donate

Another California Wind Energy Project Canceled

By Chris Clarke
August 2, 2013
Support Provided By
Granite-horsebush-val-thumb-600x360-57009
Granite Mountains | Photo: Basin and Range Watch

Yet another proposed wind project in the Mojave Desert has been dropped. The 84-megawatt proposed Granite Wind LLC Wind Energy Project between Barstow and Lucerne Valley has been withdrawn by its developer, and the project's likely effect on the local eagle population is a big reason.

According to Mickey Quillman at Bureau of Land Management's Barstow field office, a letter from developer RES formally withdrawing the project should reach his office next week, at which point the BLM will start doing the paperwork necessary to close the books on the proposal for good.

In the works for over a decade, the Granite Mountains project would have placed up to 28 wind turbines on 2,756 acres in the small mountain range between State Route 247 and Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County. Under a power purchase agreement signed in 2007, the project would have sold up to 84 megawatts of power to Southern California Edison (SCE).

Screen shot 2013-08-02 at 11.43.11 AM.png
Map of the project.

Among other obstacles, including pitched opposition from residents in nearby Lucerne Valley, the project faltered when it was determined that the Granite Mountains were favored nesting habitat for golden eagles. despite being fast-tracked by the Interior Department in 2010, the project was put on hold due to fears the turbines would devastate the local eagle population.

RES had been an outspoken voice challenging agency science on wildlife and wind, as witness this August 2012 letter from RES development manager James Riven opposing the designation of the Granite Mountains as a biologically important area in a draft of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

Had it not been for those pesky protected eagles, Granite Wind may well have been delivering power already: original plans were for the facility to start delivering power to SCE in mid-2013.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News