Public meetings scheduled for Dec. 10 in Blythe and Dec. 11 in Palm Desert will give Coachella Valley residents a chance to raise their concerns about three huge solar power projects planned for 202,000 acres of federal land east of the Coachella Valley.
Federal and state officials have targeted all three projects, all solar thermal plants, for fast-track approval by December 2010.
The land designated for the projects is between Joshua Tree National Park and Blythe and is officially called the Riverside East Solar Study Zone.
"This is the most important opportunity the public will have to weigh in," said Holly Roberts, associate field manager for the Bureau of Land Management's Palm Springs Field Office.
All three projects also require joint approval by the California Energy Commission, which is organizing the Dec. 10 event, and the BLM, which is holding the meeting on Dec. 11.
The Dec. 10 meeting, to be held at Blythe City Hall, will include a site visit and information session on a 250-megawatt solar thermal plant being developed by NextEra Energy, a Florida-based company.
The Dec. 11 meeting at UC Riverside's Palm Desert Graduate Center will cover both the NextEra project and two solar thermal plants being developed by San Francisco-based Chevron Energy, Roberts said.
The two Chevron projects would have a combined generating power of close to 1,500 megawatts, BLM officials said.
The agency also announced Monday the beginning of 30-day public comment periods on all three projects. The deadline for submitting comments to the BLM will be Dec. 23.
Roberts said draft environmental impact statements on the projects could be ready three months after the meetings, with another 90-day public comment period to follow.
Participation during the public comment periods is critical for individuals and groups who want to be officially recognized as part of the process, Roberts said.
Roberts said the agency wants input on how the plants could affect all aspects of the environment, from water use to endangered plants and animals.
"If there is a significant issue raised, we want to be sure we have an alternative that addresses that issue, that reduces or mitigates it," she said.
For example, solar thermal plants often use massive amounts of water, which is heated to run turbines and is also used for cooling, Roberts said. The technology proposed for the NextEra project, called wet cooling, can use up to 1,600 acre-feet — or more than 521 million gallons — of water per year, she said.
One acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water.
Steven Stengel, spokesman for NextEra, defended wet cooling as the most cost-effective and efficient technology for the proposed plant.
"This project makes sense from an environmental perspective, and we will be active participants in the (approval) process," said Stengel, who expects to attend both meetings in December.
Environmental groups are also arguing that the government should be looking at other sites for solar development.
"They're taking a pristine development, tortoise habitat and (habitat for) other endangered species and turning it into an industrial zone," said Jeff Morgan, chairman of the Sierra Club's Tahquitz Group in Palm Springs.
"We need to move these projects onto disturbed lands that have been used for other things in the past," Morgan said.
The Riverside East zone is the largest of four solar study areas in the state, and has four projects that U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar earlier this year targeted for the fast-track approval process.
The fourth project, a photovoltaic plant being developed by Arizona-based First Solar, only requires approval by the BLM. Roberts said the company is scheduled to submit plans for the plant this week.
K Kaufmann can be reached at k.kaufmann@thedesertsun.com or (760) 778-4622..
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