Here’s a somewhat impenetrable document from the BLM that likely gave sour stomachs to those Coyote Crossing readers who work for BrightSource when they received it:
BLM Temporary Suspension Notice for Ivanpah Solar site
The nut grafs [emphasis added]:
Based upon monthly monitoring information regarding desert tortoise, submitted by the holders of these grants, it is the BLM’s Decision to immediately and temporarily suspend all further surface disturbance or construction of fences under the NTPs issued on March 2, 2011 for Ivanpah 2 and Ivanpah 3. Solar Partners I and VIII are directed to cease all construction activities on Ivanpah 2, and Ivanpah 3 with the exception of filling open trenches
on the fenceline and filling open fence post holes that might create a hazard for desert tortoises. This decision is issued under the authority of 43 CFR 2807.l6(a).This immediate and temporary suspension Decision requiring you to cease fence construction are [sic] based on the current status of the Biological Opinion and the incidental take limits established for the project. As communicated to you, it is the position of the BLM that activity on the Ivanpah project site has reached, and in some categories, just exceeded the incidental take limit for further construction activities within Ivanpah 2, and Ivanpah 3, with certain exception. BLM has determined that work within the access road and power block areas of Ivanpah 2 may continue. Construction within the Ivanpah 2 access road area and power block area may continue since those areas were previously fenced and all desert tortoises have been removed. All other construction work associated with Ivanpah 2 and Ivanpah 3 is suspended.
The BLM, in other words, has set in motion the process by which BrightSource goes to the Fish and Wildlife Service and asks for permission to kill more tortoises. Construction can still proceed on unit 1, so this isn’t victory. But it’s a reprieve for a lot of the tortoises, and if we can get Fish and Wildlife to take their sweet time we can make BrightSource miss the summer cut-off for more tortoise relocations. And if the pending lawsuits result in a preliminary injunction against all construction, then maybe we’ll see BrightSource’s execs joining Tessera execs on the Rich Guys’ Unemployment Line. A man can dream.
Do you know I haven’t been back to the Ivanpah Valley since construction started? I haven’t been able to face the idea.
I can really understand a reluctance to go back to the Ivanpah site. I agonized over it for weeks. Like you,
having hiked through the area, especially unit 2 and 3’s location, I was aware of all the plant and animal communities there and didn’t want to see it obliterated.
With this decision, those areas I hiked and enjoyed are spared, at least for a while.
But where BrightSource has begun construction, it’s bad, very bad.
I am sorry but I don’t see recovery for hundreds or years or more for all the havoc that has been perpetrated on this beautiful area.
The aerial photo’s show the overall scale, but it is not the same as seeing it live, but of course at a distance, thanks to all the fencing.
I know exactly how you feel.