Basin and Range Watch

Submit Comments on the Esmeralda 7 Solar Projects! It's "only" 100 Square Miles!

^Lone Mountian overlooking the site of the Gold Dust Solar Project - just one project from the Esmeralda 7 and would be built on 16,720 acres. Top left photo: Sand cholla (Grusonia pulchella)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared this Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Esmeralda Seven Solar Projects.

The BLM, Battle Mountain District Office is seeking comments on a programmatic-level environmental impact statement and resource management plan amendment to construct seven utility-scale photovoltaic solar facilities with battery energy storage systems on BLM-administered lands in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The seven proposed facilities would be geographically contiguous and encompass approximately 62,300 acres or 100 square miles of BLM-administered lands approximately 30 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada. The BLM is attempting to streamline the review of 7 massive solar facilities in one weakly written Environmental Impact Sttement. The BLM would change their regional Resource Management Plan and allow the solar developers to build their solar panels on 10 percent slopes. At this point, they are only allowed to build on 5 percent slopes. This will impact viewsheds, wildlife and surface hydrology.

The BLM will also need to "downgrade" the visual resources. How does BLM manage scenery? In this case, they would apply an industrial visual class called VRM Class IV to the entire region which would encourage major visual modifications to the landscape.

The projects would connect to the pending Greenlink West Transmission Line Esmeralda Substation which could transmit one gigawatt of energy, but there are far more projects proposed than there is capacity for.

The project site contains 12,000-year-old Clovis points and cultural sites, several plant communities and over 20 rare plants, one of the most important linkage areas for desert bighorn sheep, outstanding visual resources, pronghorn antelope, and the area contains Lands with Wilderness Characteristics.

In 2023, the Friends of Nevada Wilderness submitted a proposal to protect this part of the Big Smoky Valley as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) instead of sacrificing it for large-scale energy sprawl. The Esmeralda/Fish Lake ACEC would protect 849,170 acres of public lands in the region and if designated, would prevent the solar construction from taking place. We are supporting this as an alternative to the projects. OR we are supporting a pause on the review of the project until the ACEC can be fully evaluated in a seperate public review. The BLM has said the proposal is not needed. We don't agree.

Other big impacts from these projects would be:

Building 279 miles of chain link fence

Large amounts of grading on 100 square miles

Removal of Vegetation on 49,000 acres

Over 10,000 acre feet of water needed for dust supression

Over 1,500 acres of wetlands in the planning area

Over 390 acres of lithium battery storage banks

Would create massive plumes of fugitive dust

Below is the list of the 7 solar projects

^Playa habitat in the Big Smoky Valley on the proposed Nivloc Solar Project site. Rare wetland plants have been found in this region, including the Sodaville milkvetch.

Below is a letter you can copy and send to BLM. If you add your own thoughts, it will be more effective. Tell BLM to select a Conservation Alternative over Approving 100 Square Miles of Solar Panels



Sample Letter

The BLM prefers that you send the comments electronically from the BLM Eplanning page here. To make sure comments are received, also copy and send to Greg Helseth at ghelseth@blm.gov or Scott Distel at sdistel@blm.gov. You can also mail comments to: ATTN: Esmeralda 7 Project Manager, BLM Battle Mountain District, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, NV 89820

Dear BLM,

The Esmeralda 7 solar projects are being reviewed for 62,000 acres or 100 square miles of BLM lands 30 miles east of Tonopah. The public lands being targeted for development contain 12,000-year-old Clovis points and other cultural sites, several plant communities and possibly over 20 rare plants, one of the most important linkage areas for desert bighorn sheep, outstanding visual resources, pronghorn, and Lands with Wilderness Characteristics are in the region.

The development would bulldoze habitat for wildlife, build 270 miles of chain link fence that would disrupt wildlife connectivity for bighorn sheep and pronghorn, need over 10,000 acre feet of water for dust control, build 390 acres of lithium battery banks prone to thermal runaway fires, impact 1,500 acres of wetlands, create glaring visual impacts, and remove vegetation on 49,000 acres.

The BLM has created an overly narrow, self-fulfilling Purpose and Need Statement for the Environmental Impact Statement that only enables the approval of the projects. The BLM failed to consider a Conservation Alternative for the Environmental Impact Statement for the Esmeralda 7 Solar Projects. The BLM must consider the Esmeralda-Fish Lake Area of Critical Environmental Concern as an official action alternative for this review. Or the BLM must pause this review for the solar projects and consider the Esmeralda-Fish Lake Area of Critical Environmental Concern as a stand alone environmental review to enable long-term conservation goals to protect the region's valuable resources. The proposed action is too big to be consistent with the BLM's Multaple Use philosophy.

Thank you,

(your name and information here)

^Silver State South Solar Project built in southern Nevada. This is on a slope and is very visible from the lower basin.

^Site of the 16,000 acre Gold Dust Solar Project

^Sand chollas would be destroyed in the solar project areas.