May 17, 2018
Letters, Nevada

Mojave not right for wind farm

Las Vegas Sun | May 17, 2018 | lasvegassun.com

A Swedish company proposes to build 240 massive wind turbines on 32,531 acres of public land bordering the Mojave National Preserve, the Castle Mountains National Monument and the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness, ruining the views and natural atmosphere within these pristine places.

We need to generate electricity from wind and solar, but not at the expense of biodiverse ecosystems millions of years in the making.

These turbines would be 500 feet tall and require 90 miles of new roads. The project would involve clearing miles of forest along Route 164, the beloved “Joshua Tree Highway.” Some of these trees are more than 900 years old, and they make up the densest Joshua Tree forest on Earth. This grassland is home to bighorn sheep and our area’s largest population of eagles.

This is not the place for such a destructive project. The Bureau of Land Management should designate this land as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, not ruin an ancient landscape. Public comments can be submitted to the BLM through June 13.

Shannon Salter, Las Vegas


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/05/17/mojave-not-right-for-wind-farm/