March 18, 2024 - Las Vegas, NV - A coalition of organizations and individuals are requesting that the Department of the Interior (Interior) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cancel the proposed large-scale solar energy project located south of Pahrump, Nevada called the Rough Hat Clark County Solar Project because of significant impacts to the imperiled Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).

See the Rough Hat Solar Project page.

Sign the Petition!

Sample letter to send. Conservation organizations nominated a high-value Mojave Desert habitat for protection to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), requesting the establishment of a 58,000-acre Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) located just north of Cactus Springs, Nevada, in the Indian Springs Valley northwest of Las Vegas. The region has been described by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as the “most critical desert tortoise connectivity corridor in Nevada.”

See more >>here

January 14, 2024 - Pahrump, NV - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has just released an Environmental Impact Statement for the Rough Hat Clark County Solar Project, a proposed 400-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility on 2,400 acres of public land that would replace nearly 4 square miles of good quality Mojave Desert habitat with solar panels, battery storage banks and new transmission lines. The project is only one of 6 large-scale solar projects and transmission upgrades either built or proposed for Mojave Desert habitat on public lands managed by BLM south of Pahrump, Nevada.  Deadline to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is April 11, 2024.

To build a solar project in such a big area, large grading equipment must clear the path for solar panels. Plants, animal burrows, biological soil crust and desert pavement all must be graded or crushed to clear the way for panels and associated facilities. It also needs to be noted that all of these living organisms sequester C02, and their removal contributes to climate change. More >>here.

January 10, 2024 - Laughlin, NV - The Bureau of Land Management is considering Resource Management Plan amendments and preparing an Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate modifying (revising, deleting, or adding to) seven designated Section 368 energy corridors (also known as West-wide Energy Corridors). The BLM proposes to amend 19 BLM RMPs in seven states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming). Ani Kwa Ame National Monument could have a 2-mile wide corridor cut through it. See more at our 368 Corridor page.

November 10, 2023 - Tonopah NV - In an unprecedented move, the Bureau of Land Management is streamlining the environmental review for seven solar projects located on 118,631 acres (158 square miles) in one programmatic environmental impact statement. Read the story and our field site visit report. 

November 12, 2023 - Moapa NV - Gemini Solar Project is touted as a "model" better way to develop solar energy projects on desert ecosystems. We investigated. Based on all the classic tenets of conservation biology, we strongly disagree. Stay tuned for this important field report.

November 11, 2023 - Spring Valley, NV - We opposed Spring valley Wind Project next to Great Basin National park several years ago, in a basin that harbored an abundant wintering eagle population. The wind project was approved on public lands, in a low wind resource area, and our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request discovered three golden eagle kills recently: 2 in 2015 and one in 2019. More >>here.