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BLM Reverses Moratorium On Solar Power Proposals
Follow-up.
SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)- The federal government is again accepting applications to build new solar power plants on public land, reversing a previous moratorium on new projects, a key agency said Wednesday. The Bureau of Land Management said it will keep its doors open for new proposals while it studies how large solar plants might affect the environment of undeveloped areas of California and the Southwest. The agency had said last week it would put a hold on new applications pending its environmental review.

"By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections," James Caswell, the agency's director, said in a statement.

In the last three years, solar companies have filed 125 proposals with the agency to lease public land for solar projects. The projects would cover almost a million acres and could power as many as 20 million homes, according to the bureau. Plants have been proposed using two different technologies: concentrating collectors and tilted photovoltaic panels.
Posted by: Steve White 2008-07-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=243291