The BLM will be accepting comments on the Golden Currant Solar Project application until August 5th, 2022.
Written input can be submitted via email to: BLM_NV_SND_EnergyProjects@blm.gov; please include “Golden Currant Solar Project Variance” in the subject line of the email.
Additionally, public input can be mailed to BLM Southern Nevada District Office, Attn: Golden Currant Solar Project Variance, 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130.
Below is a sample letter you can copy and send to BLM. Please personalize the message to give them a diverse selection of comments. Your own ideas will make a difference to them when considering comments.
"Please reject the application for the Golden Currant Solar Project.
Approval of the project would result in the removal of tens of thousands of Mojave yuccas and cacti. Many of the plants are hundreds of years old and provide habitat and food to the wildlife of the area.
The project site is located in important desert tortoise habitat. When desert tortoises were moved off the Yellow Pine Site in May, 2021, just to the east of the proposed Golden Currant project site, nearly 3 times more tortoises than predicted were found and 30 of the 139 moved were killed by hungry badgers in drought conditions . Please do not allow a repeat of the recent desert tortoise disaster that took place on the Yellow Pine Solar site. Desert tortoises are protected under the Endangered Species Act and are seeing sharp declines throughout their range.
Nearly 50 percent of the project site is made up of badlands eroded by canyons and over a 5 percent slope. This topography would need to be leveled to accommodate solar panels.
The project site contains old biological soil crusts and desert pavement that is about 100,000 years old. Removal of the desert surface and clay-based badlands topography will result in uncontrollable fugitive dust. This will impact public health in nearby Pahrump, Nevada and Charleston View, California.
The project site contains hundreds of rare Parish Club Cholla, mesquite, kit fox, desert iguana, burrowing owl, coyote and several other species. Millions of living organisms would be killed in the construction of the project.
The project will probably require up to 1,200 acre-feet of water for construction and additional acre-feet each year for operation. The Pahrump Valley Basin is over-drafted by 12,000 acre-feet.
The project will destroy habitat for mesquite and associated species, a unique groundwater dependent habitat.
Solar projects can mimic lakes and will often kill a number of bird species. The project would be in the vicinity of Stump Spring and the Amargosa River which attract several birds.
The project would be located less than 2 miles from the Old Spanish National Historic Trail. Developing an industrial eyesore so close to the trail will destroy the historic character of the region.
The project will cut off access to over 7 square miles of public land and be visible from recreation trails, Highway 160, Mt. Charleston, the Kingston Range Wilderness in California and the South Nopah Range Wilderness also in California. Public access would be impacted on the Front Site Road and to Cathedral Canyon.
The Bureau of Land Management should not even consider reviewing this application until the Southern Nevada Resource Management Plan can be updated. The plan is outdated by 25 years. Visitor use to the Tecopa Road has increased in this time and the visual resources along with other resources need to have better protection.
To preserve diverse Mojave Desert habitat on public lands and the quality of life in Pahrump, Nevada, BLM should reject the application for the Solar Project."
(Your name and address here)