Bonanza Solar Project

November 6, 2024, public meeting with Bureau of Land Management on the proposed Bonanza Solar Project, at Indian Springs, NV.

November 12, 2014 - Indian Springs, NV - Basin & Range Watch attended the November 6 public meeting on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) held at Indian Springs, Nevada. The utility-scale solar project application lies just north of Cactus Springs up the road along US 95, on prime Mojave desert tortoise habitat that is also a crucial connectivity corridor for the tortoise according to the best available science.

EDF Renewables, a French utility company, is the proponent for the solar project, and reps were present at the meeting.

French company wants public lands for solar project

EDF Renewables, a company from France, was at the meeting.

Map of the proposed Bonanza Solar Project (two of the four Alternatives). The project is proposed at 300 megawatts (MW) on a right-of-way of 5,133 acres.

This area of the proposed Bonanza Solar Project is public lands and is popular for recreation locally, and by visitors from Las Vegas. We often see off-highway vehicle use on dirt road routes as people explore the area and up into the adjacent Spring Range.

The site is an intact desert ecosystem with blooming Mojave yuccas, a high diversity of cactus species, spring wildflowers, and tortoises.

Eight-foot-tall chainlink fence topped with barbed wire is the typical perimeter fence used around utility-scale solar projects, in order to prevent people from entering. Sunshine Valley Solar Project in Amargosa valley, NV.

Large blocks of public lands have already been cut-off from multiple use, recreation, and entry by citizens, as private companies profit off of public lands. They often obtain large tax credits from the federal government, while also getting local tax abatements--usually the solar field itself is abated, while only the operation and maintenance buildings are calculated in payment of local and County taxes. Thus the economic benefits are much less than claimed. Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in Riverside County, CA--formerly open public land desert.

BLM public meeting at Indian Springs on the proposed Bonanza Solar Project.

BLM Pahrump Field Office Field Manager Nicholas Pay presents at the Indian Springs meeting.

The solar project is next to Cactus Springs, a private parcel now owned by the Western Shoshone Tribe. Beyond are mountain ranges in the Nevada National Training Range out of Creech Air Force Base which is next to Indian Springs.

Posters of the environmental review of the solar project at the Indian Springs town public meeting. There were almost as many BLM staff as public at this meeting. Basin and Range watch will be writing extensive comments opposing this badly-sited energy project, and a sample letter is below.

Check out our archive web page on our history of involvment with the Bonanza Solar Project: https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/Bonanza-Solar.html

The project would be 5 miles west of the town of Indian Springs, on public lands. The deadline for comments is December 5, 2024. A Record of Decision is expected by summer/fall of 2025. See the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) eplanning page for the project at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020905/510

The project would have a Lithium-ion battery energy storage facility on 30 acres (300 MW). 42 steel monoples would be built as a gen-tie line to connect the solar project to the substation along the existing GridLiance transmission line.

BLM said the solar facility would need 250-325 acre-feet of groundwater during construction, 250 acre-feet during decommissioning, and 1 acre-foot for the operation and maintenance buildings. The total acre-feet would be 540-614. One new water well would be drilled on the project site, or water could be trucked in if needed.

BLM estimated that there could be a 50-foot drawdown of the water table at the well. There might be a 1-foot drawdown at 8,000 feet away from the well. At Devil's Hole, which appears to be connected to the northern Indian Springs Valley hydrologically, BLM estimated that there could be a drawdown of 1/100th of a foot. Even this could be significant for the shallow shelf in the cave opening that provides the entire global habitat for the federally endangered Devil's Hole pupfish.

Tortoise connectivity

We found this tortoise on the Bonanza Solar Project proposed site during field visits. BLM at the public meeting admitted that the area is essential Mojave desert tortoise connectivity habitat, connecting the Easdstern and Northeastern Recovery Units. Building the solar project could lead to long-term degradation of this connectivity, BLM said.

BLM said the project site holds 7 cactus species, with an estimated 63 cacti and yuccas per acre. These would be largely destroyed, driven over, graded, or mowed down to make way for the green energy project.

Parish club-cholla

Silver cholla, also called golden cholla

Beavertail cactus

Cottontop cactus

We found a strange variant of spineless pencil cholla (Cylindropuntia ramossisima) that was low-growing and had lemon-yellow flowers. We are in discussions with botanists, including a cholla expert about this population. No genetics have been undertaken to determine if this might be a new variety, subspecies, or species. It appears to be within the range of variation of pencil chollas but still is very striking. Yet BLM brushed our comments aside, and these cacti are given no protection. We see this so often in the mad rush to build renenwable energy on public lands ecosystems: approve and construct first, ask questions about rare biodiversity later (after it is too late).

Construction machinery on the Blythe Solar Power Project in Riverside County, California. Rare cacti will not survive this. See: https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/Blythe.html

At the public meeting BLM claimed that they found no special-status plants on the project site. This completely ignores comments we sent in about our discovery of a rare plant, the delicate Utah vive milkvetch, that we found during field visits. Utah vine milkweed (Funastrum utahense), also called (Cynanchum utahense), is present on the area of the, and we have found flowering populations of this species in 2021 and 2022 after summer rains in two separate populations.

This climbing, delicate, spreading milkweed can cover adjacent plants. Leaves are thread-like. The small yellow flowers attract pollinating moths in the evening hours. This is a rare plant in California (California Rare Plant Rank: 4.2 -- limited distribution, CNDDB Calflora 2022). There are scattered collection records in Nevada from the area around Mercury and Indian Springs from the 1960s, as well as Gold Butte and Mud Spring in Nevada (see https://intermountainbiota.org/portal/collections/list.php?taxa=Cynanchum+utahense&usethes=1&taxontype=2&page=2). More observations center in St. George, Utah. The status of this species in Nevada needs further investigation. Yet BLM is ignoring this rare plant. Contracted surveyors often miss late summer and fall blooming wildflowers, and only survey quickly in the spring. They missed this one.

BLM gives a presentation about the proposed solar project.

Semi-truck delivers solar project material at Yellow Pine Solar Project, in an overland travel construction method.

Disturbance Categories

Nevada BLM has developed a list of categories to classify the different construction methods that are observed on solar projects with respect to the level of degradation and destruction of vegetation, topsoil, land forms, surface hydrology, and ability for future restoration of the desert.

The Disturbance Categories are summarized as follows:

D-0 - No impact, avoidance. No construction on desert ecosystems.
D-1 - Driving over desert habitats with overland travel using rubber-tire vehicles, side-by-sides, tractors, and forklifts. Mowing of vegetation allowed: half of desert plants are removed, and allowed to regrow in the solar field. Some cacti and yucca may be able to survive. The seedbank is left in place, although in a highly-disturbed environment.
D-2 - Clear and cut, drive and crush construction methods. Front-end loaders remove vegetation, vegetation and soils are compacted. Plants are crushed. All cacti and yucca are destroyed.
D-3 - Clear and cut with soil removal. Soil is removed, disk-and-roll construction methods, grading and filling, trenching, vegeration is removed, all cacti and yucca are destroyed, the seedbank is displaced.

The BLM's Preferred Alternative (Alternative 2), which they most often choose, would allow 592 to 1,000 acres of D-3 grading, 637 acres of D-2 drive-and-crush, and 1,184 acres of D-1 overland travel. Hydrologic control structures would not be allowed. This is a huge impact to these intact desert soils, vegetation communities, tortoises, and recreation on public lands. All categories will require fencing off these acres and more buffer areas to public entry, closing this desert from receation in order to benefit a French utility company.

Desert tortoises would apparently be allowed back into this highly-disturbed desert industrial project after construction and during operstion. A "Tortoise Access Management Plan" would be written in the future, outside of the public review period. Why not now? Because this is all highly experimental with respect to public lands management.

Visual Resources would be drastically impacted here. BLM is required to classify landscapes with respect to scenic values, but this seems to be a political decision rather than a decision based on actualy beauty of mountains and landscapes. BLM changes and downgrades these Visual Classes regularly in order to "break the rules" and accomodate large industrial facilities such as solar projects. We have seen it many times. In other words, BLM downgrades some public lands as suddnely "uglier" in a Resource Management Plan amendment so that the Resouce Management Plan will not be violated when an industrial facility is proposed that would be highly visibale anc change thwe character of the landscape.

For the Bonanza Solar Project, BLM is proposing to downgrade the Visual Resource Management class from III to IV (uglier) in order to accomodate the need for the solar project to move an existing utility corridor out of the way of construction.

BLM is supposed to review "Key Observation Points" (KOPs) which digitally simulate how a photovoltaic power plant would look on the landscape. But their simulations are always poor, taken from a huge distance, never include the tall gen-tie lines, battery energy storage rboes, and substations.

Cultural Resources

BLM really messed up here. We found an apparently ancient trail that was only on old desert pavement soil sufaces, disappeared on eroding washes, and had large creosote and bursage shrubs growing on it--there was no recent signs of recreational uses. The old trail matches other documented archaeological features labeled as ancient footpaths used by Indigenous people during trade and travel. Yet in our comments and communications with BLM, they first doscounted it as merely a "mountain bike trail." Some of our Basin and Range watch members are mountain bikers and we have never used a trail that disappears for most of its length, only to re-appers on short segments of old tereeains. This was not a satisfactory answer.

An apparent ancient trail heads across an old desert pavement undisturbed soil surface. It is a short segment that is washed out in many places by surface water erosion. This trail appears to lead from Cactus Springs west and north towards springs in Amargosa Valley. We have spoken with Chemehuevi elders who told us that in past times people would make pilgrimages from as far way as Needles, CA along the Colorado River, north to sacred hot sprtings in Beatty, Nevada, visiting springs and water sources along the way. The foot journey could take two weeks one way. These features need to be preserved until they are studied. But the BLM's Preferred Alternative would not avoid any potential old trails.

Fortunately, BLM has hired a full-time Tribal Liason for the Southern Nevada District Office (out of Las Vegas), covering all solar projects. They found a trail segment in the northern portion of the Bonanze Solar Poject area that might be of culturasl significance. This may or may not match with our observed and reportede trail segmemt that we reported to BLM in our past comments. But we are pleased that the Tribes are now involved and consulting with BLM on these kinds of cultural resources that could be significantly impacted by solar projects.

Yet BLM missed any mention of the local Temple of Goddess Spirituality, at Cactus Springs, which would be directly impacted by this large-scale solar project. This is an important local cultural resource that has served people for decades. Why did BLM overlook this in its presentation?

Cactus Springs ACEC

At the end of their presentation, BLM mentioned our Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Area nomination. We sent this nomination in to BLM years ago as an alternative that would preserve these public lands as open for recreation and mutiple uses, save the tortoises, and exclude solar development.

BLM made a poster at the public meeting of out ACEC nomination, and said it meets Relevance and Importance criteria. But then BLM said they would not consider designating this area as a solar-exclusion ACEC because "it was not in the scope of the EIS." Translate: BLM wrote their Purpose and Need statement in the EIS to be so narrow that no other alternative could be considered except EDF's solar development project. This is too narrow a statement.

We made a public comment that BLM needs to choose the No Action Alternative in order to avoid impacts to tortoise habitat here, and bookmark this area for future analysis and designation in Resource Management Plan revisions.

Public comments from the local audience expressed concerns about impacts to small towns, water, historical resources, life in the desert, and how local people were not notofied of this meeting until the last minute beacuase of friends letting them know.

People wanted an accounting of how the federal subsidies to this solar project company from France would benefit local communities. "How are we benefitting when we give our public lands to a corporation?"

Lithium battery energy storage structures as proposed at the Bonanza Solar Project. These battery buildings need air conditining to keep the batteries at a precise temperature during hot summers. There were unanswered questions about Lithium battery runaway fires and the ability of local communities to deal with these extreme fires. See the aticle on the recent Lithium battery tuck crach on US 95 just north of Mercury, Nevada, which closed the highway for a day until the toxic wastes and gas emissions could be safely contained (after large quantities of water were delivered to eventually put out the runaway fire): https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/fiery-semi-truck-crash-involving-lithum-batteries-closes-us-95-northwest-of-las-vegas/

BLM staff discuss our ACEC nomination to protect these public lands against solar developent. But they did not consider this in their environmental review, and shunted it to the vague future.

Bonanza Solar sample letter:

Upload here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020905/510

Click on Participate Now

Bonanza Solar Email: Bonanzasolar@blm.gov

The Bonanza Solar Project should be rejected and the BLM should designate the 82,573 acre Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) as an alternative to approving the solar project. In spite of several requests from the public and state agencies, the BLM failed to consider this as an alternative in the Environmental Impact Statement for the project. This can be done in two ways. The first way would be to designate the Cactus Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern through the Plan Amendment for the Las Vegas Resource Management Plan being reviewed for the Bonanza Solar Project.

The second way is to pause the review of the Bonanza Solar Project and review the proposed Cactus Springs ACEC through a new plan amendment and National Environmental Policy Act review with its own Environmental Impact Statement.

The Bonanza Solar Project is one of 4 solar projects proposed for the Indian Springs Valley spanning nearly 20,000 acres and these developments will industrialize the region, and the power would be exported to California.

The Bonanza Solar Project could have the following impacts:

- Even with the preferred alternative, about 2,400 acres will be graded or driven over multiple times. This will crush desert pavement, desert plants and biological soil crust resulting in obtrusive fugitive dust which can spread Valley Fever and cause respiratory problems.

- To control fugitive dust, the proponent is proposing an onsite well which could use up to 320 acre feet of water. This is expected to draw down the water level by one foot for an 8,000-foot radius which will impact the Cactus Springs mound spring and likely kill off some of the mesquite and cottonwood trees. Several neotropical migrating birds and other species of wildlife use this spring. The watershed is also a "mega-channel" which supplies water to Devil's Hole and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. There are 13 Threatened and Endangered species that depend on groundwater in Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

- Grading and site disturbance will cause invasive weeds to move in. This is a fire hazard and will need to be controlled with toxic herbicides.

- The project will be built in what the Fish and Wildlife Service has called "the most crucial desert tortoise connectivity habitat in Nevada". The area is very narrow and connects to populations in the Amargosa and Pahrump Valleys. Bonanza Solar along with the other projects will remove valuable habitat for the desert tortoise which has seen a 38 percent range-wide decline in the last 2 decades.

- While most adult tortoises will be removed, nearly 3 times as many juveniles could be crushed and killed by construction. Desert tortoises can experience up to a 50 percent mortality when relocated or translocated.

- Other wildlife including burrowing owls, kit foxes, badgers and even wild horses will be impacted by the project.

- the project site has 63 cacti per acre and approximately 40,000 cacti and Mojave yuccas are located on the project site. Many Mojave yuccas will be shredded, and they provide food and habitat for many other species. The sparse Parish club cholla is a species that will be greatly impacted.

- The preferred alternative will destroy a prehistoric Native American trail on the north side of the project site.

- The project will cut access to 2,700 acres of public land - over 4 square miles. This is a popular recreation area.

- The BLM will downgrade the Visual Resource Class or more specifically, the scenic quality management of the area. By doing so, the entire region will be zoned for industrial use and encourage more solar energy sprawl. The project will be visible from Cold Creek, the Mt Charleston Wilderness and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge.

- The project will use lithium battery banks which can burn in a thermal runaway fire. It will take a large quantity of water to control these fires, and the fires will create toxic fumes."

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