The bulk of the March meeting was composed of a presentation from the Solar Millenium group, which is seeking approval for a massive solar project in the area south of Ridgecrest, north of Sheep Springs in the El Paso Mtns. The project will have 1.5 MILLION square meters of mirrors!
The BLM's primary focus at the meeting was to ensure a minimal footprint for the project, avoiding disruption of current routes of travel in the area [it seems most of the locals go thru this area to visit Red Rock while staying off the highway]
Hector said that at this point, there is a new energy company coming forward with interest in the area EVERY WEEK! As one meeting attendee put it, the Ridgecrest Resource area is like the Saudi Arabia of solar. The local folks are looking to see if they can work in any further concessions from the developers.
In other news, Ed Waldheim indicated that Red Rock State Park is still moving forward with their General Plan work that had been shelved earlier in the year because of the budget. Apparantly they are now reading thru the approximately 3000 public comments they got on the General Plan.
Randy Banis broached a sensitive subject on the cooperative arrangement agreed to by BLM and the Park Service on formulating a plan for Surprise Canyon. Everyone who is familiar with the Surprise Canyon story knows that initially it seemed like a good idea to have the BLM and NPS work out a plan together. But the reality has become that NOTHING has happened, and the NPS has indicated that it may not even agree with BLM standards if BLM could find the time and energy to generate a proposal.
So Randy broached the idea that the two agencies forgo the original plan so that SOMETHING can start moving forward. He said he contacted someone in the NPS office about this, who was receptive. Since Randy is the webmaster for Deathvalley.com, maybe we'll see something on this there.
Good stuff.
The BLM's primary focus at the meeting was to ensure a minimal footprint for the project, avoiding disruption of current routes of travel in the area [it seems most of the locals go thru this area to visit Red Rock while staying off the highway]
Hector said that at this point, there is a new energy company coming forward with interest in the area EVERY WEEK! As one meeting attendee put it, the Ridgecrest Resource area is like the Saudi Arabia of solar. The local folks are looking to see if they can work in any further concessions from the developers.
In other news, Ed Waldheim indicated that Red Rock State Park is still moving forward with their General Plan work that had been shelved earlier in the year because of the budget. Apparantly they are now reading thru the approximately 3000 public comments they got on the General Plan.
Randy Banis broached a sensitive subject on the cooperative arrangement agreed to by BLM and the Park Service on formulating a plan for Surprise Canyon. Everyone who is familiar with the Surprise Canyon story knows that initially it seemed like a good idea to have the BLM and NPS work out a plan together. But the reality has become that NOTHING has happened, and the NPS has indicated that it may not even agree with BLM standards if BLM could find the time and energy to generate a proposal.
So Randy broached the idea that the two agencies forgo the original plan so that SOMETHING can start moving forward. He said he contacted someone in the NPS office about this, who was receptive. Since Randy is the webmaster for Deathvalley.com, maybe we'll see something on this there.
Good stuff.
mining claims seem to houd some power. why can't they put there new site by the one on the 395?