Attn: Herman Pinales BLM Las Vegas Field Office 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive Las Vegas, NV 89130 Via email:
[email protected] May 4, 2020 RE: Yellow Pine Solar Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement DOI-BLM- NV-S010-2017-0110-EIS Dear Mr. Pinales, Basin and Range Watch, Western Watersheds Project, Morongo Basin Conservation Association, Sierra Club California and Nevada Desert Committee, Desert Survivors, and Shoshone Village submits comments on the proposed 500-megawatt Yellow Pine Solar Project which would develop approximately 3,072.5-acres of Federally Threatened Mojave desert tortoise habitat and prime Mojave yucca stands in Pahrump Valley, Nevada. The project would include a photovoltaic solar energy generating facility and associated substation, and a 230-kilovolt (kV) substation and associated 230-kV transmission line. Basin and Range Watch is a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to conserve the deserts of Nevada and California and to educate the public about the diversity of life, culture, and history of the ecosystems and wild lands of the desert. Federal and many state agencies are seeking to open up millions of acres of unspoiled habitat and public land in our region to energy development. Our goal is to identify the problems of energy sprawl and find solutions that will preserve our natural ecosystems, open spaces, and quality of life for local communities. We support energy efficiency, better rooftop solar policy, and distributed generation/storage alternatives, as well as local, state and national planning for wise energy and land use following the principles of conservation biology. We have visited the site of the proposed Yellow Pine Solar Project.