Doug’s Dynamic Drivel

DENVER — Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating

But hey you know, according to Bush and Bush Jr. (McCain) we can start drilling for oil right away in all those previously protected areas because, you know, the need for energy is so great. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains about 12B barrels of recoverable oil at today’s prices. The US consumes about 20M barrels a day. That means that all the oil there would supply about 600 days worth of oil consumption, but it would take a decade or more before it came on stream. In the meantime the White House would not even open an email from the EPA (regarding CO2 emissions) but is now stifling solar power development. I must confess I’m surprised that Bush et al did not step in and stop California from launching its Million Solar Roof project, which, after all, is depriving his oil buddies of revenue. I guess that would have been just a little too obvious.

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