Interior Department to Update Plans for Solar on Public Lands

By Christian Roselund

On 5 December 2022 U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will update its guidelines for solar projects on public lands through its Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). Additionally, the agency is initiating reviews of three proposed solar projects on public lands in Arizona totaling 1 gigawatt and has revealed a portfolio of 65 renewable energy projects on public lands across the country which total over 31 gigawatts.

The Solar PEIS was first published in 2012 and identified locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah that have high solar potential and limited resource conflicts. BLM states that its 2022 update to the document is driven by improved technology, new transmission, and more ambitious clean energy goals. BLM also says that the updated document is needed to identify areas in additional states, increase opportunities for renewable energy development, and develop criteria to exclude areas with high resource values from energy development.

The new PEIS will include at least one area in each of the following states: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. This brings the number of states under study to 11. The BLM manages 1.001 million square kilometers of public land, most of which is in these 11 states under consideration and Alaska. As much of this land is arid lands such as grasslands, scrub, and desert, it includes vast areas with excellent natural solar potential.

BLM is accepting public comments on the scope of the analysis, potential alternatives, and identification of relevant information by 6 February 2023. Additionally, it will hold two virtual and 12 in-person public scoping meetings in all 11 of the states under study, as well as Washington D.C.

Source: Notice of Intent To Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement To Evaluate Utility-Scale Solar Energy Planning and Amend Resource Management Plans for Renewable Energy Development (BLM, Federal Register)

Press release: Secretary Haaland Announces New Steps to Accelerate Solar Energy Development on Public Lands in the West (Department of the Interior)