BLM Adds Colorado Meeting On Solar Energy Plan

The Bureau of Land Management has added a public meeting in Colorado for people to comment on the federal government’s draft plan for solar energy development on public lands.

The meeting is scheduled for Jan. 11 at Inn of the Rio Grande at 333 Santa Fe Ave., in Alamosa.

The meeting site will be open to the public at 6 p.m. The official meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and will close after all individuals who wish to speak have been heard.

The goal of the solar energy plan is to promote development of large, utility-scale solar projects on public lands while minimizing conflicts with wildlife and cultural and historic resources.

More than 80,000 public comments were received on the Draft Solar PEIS, which the BLM developed with the Department of Energy and published in Dec. 2010.

The BLM’s preferred alternative within the draft plan identifies 17 zones in six western states as prime candidates for projects. Four zones are in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. The other zones are in California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

The agency has already held public meetings on the draft plan in Arizona, California and Nevada.