Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Get creative with solar solutions

If approved by the Bureau of Land Management, the Gemini Solar Electric Facility would be the largest photovoltaic installation on earth, and there are plans to include battery storage.

The problem is, the developer will mow and bulldoze the land, upwards of 10 square miles outside Valley of Fire State Park.

Not only would this destroy the ecosystem, be a visual eyesore and prevent the public from enjoying wilderness, it would release the carbon stored in the desert soil and plants, and prevent future sequestration.

Until recently, scientists were unsure of where a portion of CO2 was being stored, and now they know it is here, in the soils of the Mojave and the Great Basin. Whenever these soils are cleared, whether for housing developments or for solar panels, they become carbon emitters instead of natural storage.

We cannot save life by destroying it. We cannot continue to operate in a world where profit and efficiency are our sole motives, and we should not have to choose between the better of two evils. Instead of bulldozing the land, we can construct solar canopies that add artistic value to the landscape and preserve the ecosystem below; the soil and plants can remain intact and the visual resources would not only be preserved but honored.

It would be possible for the public to continue to enjoy hiking trails and wildlife viewing. Shade canopies could also be constructed over parking lots.