NYT Blog: Salazar on Indian Country rights-of-way

Environment

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

"In an interview last Friday with The New York Times, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised “aggressive” pursuit of renewable energy projects on public lands, but provided no firm date for his department’s highly anticipated decision on the Cape Wind project in Massachusetts.

“From my point of view, I am not going to let political issues stand in the way of us moving forward with an energy program in the offshore,” he said.

Mr. Salazar said that the department had received “about 200 applications” for solar power plants on lands belonging to the Bureau of Land Management, and about 20 applications for on-shore wind energy projects on B.L.M. lands.

But as Mr. Salazar moves forward with his priorities of promoting renewable energy and transmission on public lands, he is already encountering some obstacles.

On some lands in California’s Mojave Desert, Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote to Mr. Salazar expressing concerns about the potential impact of solar development on the desert landscape. Mr. Salazar said he met with the senator earlier last week, and that the two staffs were also meeting to discuss the issue.

Asked whether there might be challenges to laying transmission lines across sovereign Indian lands, Mr. Salazar said it was “definitely a reality that has to be dealt with, and it can either be seen as a conflict or it can be seen as an opportunity.”"

Get the Story:
Green Inc: Salazar Talks Guns, Parks and Solar Power (The New York Times 3/24)