US Dept of Interior denies canceling largest solar project after axing review

Summary

The U.S. Department of the Interior has canceled its broad environmental review for the seven individual projects that make up the 6.2-GW Esmeralda 7 solar project located on federal land in Nevada and will review and permit each project individually, according to a spokesperson. Esmeralda 7 is set to be the largest solar project in the U.S. by capacity. The project’s National Environmental Policy Act status is listed as canceled on the Bureau of Land Management’s website. In a Tuesday email, the spokesperson said the BLM had not canceled the project. “During routine discussions prior to the lapse in appropriations, the proponents and BLM agreed to change their approach for the Esmeralda 7 Solar Project in Nevada,” they said. “Instead of pursuing a programmatic level environmental analysis, the applicants will now have the option to submit individual project proposals to the BLM to more effectively analyze potential impacts.” According to a draft programmatic environmental impact statement for the project from July of last year, the individual projects are: Lone Mountain Solar, Nivloc Solar, Smoky Valley Solar, Red Ridge 1 Solar, Red Ridge 2 Solar, Esmeralda Energy Center and Gold Dust Solar, which “would be geographically contiguous and encompass approximately 62,300 acres of BLM-administered lands approximately 30 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada.” Developers of the seven projects include Invenergy, Avantus, and NextEra. A spokesperson for NextEra told The Guardian, “We are in the early stage of development and remain committed to pursuing our project’s comprehensive environmental analysis by working closely with the Bureau of Land Management.” All of the projects have pending right-of-way applications before the Bureau of Land Management, the draft PEIS said. As the project’s previous NEPA review process has been canceled, it’s unclear how long it will now take each project to secure approvals. The original draft PEIS said that the timelines for construction “would ...