The most abundant source of energy, the sun, is being placed out of reach and behind the red tape of bureaucracy. With all the fuss about the November election, the time isn’t being spent working out the tax breaks for solar projects which will end this year. Without those tax breaks, the research and development for solar energy will be hindered. To add another layer of red tape, just to make sure the sun is safely out of reach, the Bureau of Land Management has put a hold on all new applications for solar collectors on federal land. They want to do an in-depth study on the environmental effects of placing solar collectors and it will take 22 months to complete. With Nevada being mostly a desert wasteland, baked daily by the sun, it could power the whole country if given the opportunity, but now the solar development will be slowed to a tortoise’s pace, which is what they are concerned the solar collectors will endanger: tortoises. This abrupt concern for the environment is a red flag for most: why be concerned about this energy source’s effects on the landscape when oil drilling and gas has not been studied as such. While it is important to protect the wildlife of our nation, there must be a way to continue building solar collectors while researching the effects. What better opportunity to observe how they affect a habitat then by observing the wildlife surrounding the solar collector that is already in place?
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11637342
