Interior Sec. Salazar and Sen. Reid announce plans to fast-track commercial-scale solar power development on public lands In a plan released on Tuesday, federal agencies will work with western leaders to designate tracts of U.S. public lands in the West as prime zones for utility-scale solar energy development, fund environmental studies, open new solar energy permitting offices and speed reviews of industry proposals. Under the zoning initiative, 24 tracts of Bureau of Land Management-administered land located in six western states, known as

Solar Energy Study Areas, would be evaluated for their environmental and resource suitability for commercial-scale solar energy production. Those areas selected would be available for projects capable of producing 10 or more megawatts of electricity. The Solar Energy Study Areas (maps) located in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah encompass about 670,000 acres. Read more of this story »

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Feds Hope to Have 13 Solar Power Plants on Public Land by 2010