Bonanza Solar Email: Bonanzasolar@blm.gov
Upload here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020905/510
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Comments due December 5th
Bonanza Solar sample letter:
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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