A catclaw acacia grows in the desert about 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas at the proposed site of the nation’s largest solar power array.
(Kevin Emmerich Basin and Range Watch)
Las Vegas Review Journal
The Bureau of Land Management heard public comments Tuesday night on a proposed massive solar array near Valley of Fire State Park.
The event at Suncoast drew a few detractors, but the plan appears to be well on its way to implementation. The project, 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas, could power as many as 400,000 Las Vegas homes.
The BLM led two identical presentations discussing the three possible versions of the Gemini project, which will be built and maintained by Arevia Power LLC. Each presentation was bookended by separate “open house” time in which BLM employees could answer individual questions.
The government is weighing Arevia’s initial proposal, a more environmentally protective strategy that involves trimming native vegetation rather than flattening it — dubbed the all-mowing proposal — and a hybrid approach that combines trimming and flattening. Officials at Tuesday’s meeting said the BLM favors the hybrid model.
