Esmeralda Solar

BLM to Review 7 solar projects on 158 Square Miles in one Small Environmental Impact Statement  

Lone Mountain overlooks sand dunes, playas, and alkaline meadows in wescentral Nevada. Much of this landscape is proposed for industrial photovoltaoc panels.

November 10th, 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.   

The 118,631 acres of public lands have been withdrawn from mineral entry for a period of two years in Esmeralda County’s Big Smoky Valley, near Tonopah, Nevada while the projects are being considered.  

“The BLM is now asking the public to think of every possible land-use impact on over 150 square miles of public land in just 30 days!” said Kevin Emmerich, Co-founder of Basin and Range Watch. 

All 7 project developers seek to connect to the Esmeralda Substation associated with the proposed Greenlink West Transmission Project. While the BLM is saying all projects will produce 5.3 GW of solar energy, the Esmeralda Substation would only be able to connect 1 GW of energy to the grid. 

The projects would require so much land to build, impacts to biological, groundwater, cultural, visual resources would be simply unavoidable. 

The seven projects are called: 

 

· Esmeralda Energy Center Project, proposed by Boulevard Associates LLC; 

· Gold Dust Solar Project, proposed by Gold Dust Solar LLC; 

· Lone Mountain Solar Project, proposed by Lone Mountain Solar LLC; 

· Nivloc Energy Project, proposed by Nivloc Solar LLC; 

· Red Ridge 1 Project, proposed by 335ES 8me LLC; 

· Red Ridge 2 Project, proposed by 336SP 8me LLC; and 

· Smoky Valley Solar Project, proposed by CG Western Renewables III LLC. 

 

“It appears that the Interior Department is seeking to approve Right of Ways for projects that will have no way to connect to the grid” Emmerich also said. “It still remains disturbing that the BLM would sacrifice entire basins that provide migration corridors for species like pronghorn”.

Nevada smokebush (Psorothamnus polydenius) blooming in November. Dunes and alkaline meadows in Big Smoky Valley next to Lone Mountain--all on the site of the proposed Gold Dust Solar Project.

If all these projects could be built out, habitat would be removed for species like the pale kangaroo mouse, burrowing owl, Brewer’sparrow, Nye pincushion, bighorn sheep and ferruginous hawk. Many of the projects would be built on the edge of dry lakes and would damage several archeology sites.  In the project plan for Nivloc Solar, the proponent seeks to use 4,600 acre feet of water for construction. 

 


Currently under the Western Solar Plan of 2012, developers are not permitted to build solar projects on slopes of 5 percent or more. This plan seeks to change that rule. In September 2023, Hurricane Hillery caused extensive flooding on the Silver State South Solar project located near Primm, Nevada. The project was built on an alluvial fan with a nearly 5 percent slope. Floodwater caused sheet flow to move the posts and foundations of the panels. If the BLM allows solar developers to continue to build on steeper slopes, there will be more damage like this in the future. 

 “Basin and Range Watch continues to be disappointed that the Biden Administration is aggressively targeting public lands for energy sprawl when so many viable alternatives exist for solar energy on rooftops, and in the built environment in general” said Emmerich.