Nye County backs Beatty’s bid for solar application denials
“If a project is truly viable and beneficial to the applicant and the public, it would already be underway or completed. Allowing the applications to linger on our public lands is not in the best interest of our community or the nation.”
These were the words of the Beatty Town Advisory Board as penned in a letter to each of Nevada’s senators and Congress members, a letter that goes on to request the elected representatives’ help in removing several commercial solar development applications from consideration.
“Allowing stagnant projects to remain on the books can and does block other types of potential development because it gives the false impression that the land is going to be developed for the specified purpose stated in the application,” the Beatty board asserted. “In our opinion, this is land-blocking or holding by large companies, which in no way benefits the public. It is a form of waste, fraud and abuse. There are specific projects in our area that we request you direct the [U.S.] Dept. of Interior and the BLM to issue denial to.”
Listed out by the Beatty board were EDF Renewables Development Inc.’s SB Solar and Rigel Solar projects, as well as Boulevard Associated, LLC’s Beatty Energy Center, Tarantula Canyon and Sawtooth solar projects. Collectively, these five applications target almost 35,000 acres around the town of Beatty, along both sides of U.S. 95.
Reinforcing the town’s request, Nye County has now followed up with a letter of its own backing the Beatty board’s position, this one sent to Nevada State Director for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Jon Raby.
“The Nye County Board of Commissioners supports the town’s appeal for the BLM to administratively reject certain solar energy right-of-way applications internally designated low or medium priority within and near the town boundary,” the county letter states. “The projects include applications that were submitted over two years ago, are lacking agency updates and have no apparent timeline or milestone progress. None of the projects are in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, nor have they conducted baseline studies in preparation for NEPA.”
The county goes on to explain that Nye, as with many other rural communities in Nevada, experienced a sharp increase in solar applications - primarily sited on publicly administered lands - as a result of President Joe Biden and his administration’s push for clean energy production. However, with no formal land use policies addressing solar, Nye County initially struggled to respond to the influx.
“In parallel, BLM field officers were impacted by administrative constraints and staffing limitations, which further delayed review and resolution of local government and community applications and cases,” the county letter reads. “In response, Nye County developed and adopted a solar energy ordinance designed to clarify local solar siting expectations and uphold meaningful developer engagement. While the ordinance provides a framework for responsible development on public lands, longstanding and inactive applications continue to occupy portions of the landscape and complicate coordination between federal and local objectives.
“The county supports ongoing coordination with BLM and renewable energy developers and remains fully committed to responsible renewable energy siting,” the county concludes. “Removing applications which are not meeting their schedule milestones and have no application updates or baseline studies and reports for analysis, would represent a practical step toward modernizing BLM case files and improving outcomes for both federal and local stakeholders.”
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
