by Jeniffer Solis, Nevada Current
The federal push to build large-scale renewable energy projects on public lands is in full force, and Nevada’s rural counties fear they may be on the chopping block.
As of June, there are over 130 pending applications to build renewable energy projects across Nevada’s public lands. Most of those projects are in rural counties, where as much as 80% of land is federally managed.
Several rural counties are now asking state lawmakers to establish a policy that would require federal agencies to coordinate all their land use planning and management decisions with state and county governments when considering massive utility-scale energy projects on Nevada’s public lands.
During an Interim Natural Resources Committee meeting on public lands Friday, representatives for rural governments told lawmakers that the intensity and scale of utility-scale energy proposals they are seeing in their counties will require targeted state policy to support and protect rural economies.
“Rural county government staff across Nevada are under increasing pressure to keep up with rampant increases in both new project proposals on public lands and unprecedented top-down rule making coming out of federal land management agencies,” said Jacob Brinkerhoff, the natural resource manager for the Nevada Association of Counties.
Local officials for Eureka and Lander County told Nevada lawmakers Friday that the flood of clean energy projects they are being asked to review has become a major burden for cash-strapped rural counties with limited staffing.
Lander County’s natural resource manager, Pam Harrington, said she does not have the staff needed to analyze, monitor, and comment on the growing number of utility-scale solar projects proposed in Lander County or their potential impact on the county.
“We’re seeing so many come across our planning committee. We have to figure out what to do, you guys. This is new territory for us, just acres-and-acres-and-acres of solar fields,” Harrington said.
“We’re trying to grapple with this the best we can. And I don’t want to alarm anyone, but we’re stretched thin,” she continued. “I’m actually losing sleep, I’ve never had that in my career.”
Both Eureka and Lander County are in the path of the proposed Greenlink North Transmission Project — a 235-mile transmission line along Highway 50, which is expected to attract more solar projects in the coming years. The transmission project also includes the “Lander Substation” in Big Smoky Valley east of Austin.
Over the last two years, solar companies have applied to build utility-scale solar projects on nearly 27,000 acres of public land in Lander County, as well as nearly 33 miles of additional transmission lines.
Lander County officials say the projects promise to drastically alter the county’s economy, policy needs, and landscape.
“In Lander County, we don’t even have any ordinances on how to dispose of solar panels,” Harrington told lawmakers.
“If there’s a way to avoid blanketing the desert in solar panels as far as the eye can see and into intact landscapes and grazing land, I hope you can help,” she continued.
One issue in Nevada feeding that conflict is the lack of a statewide utility-scale solar plan, said Brinkerhoff, the natural resource manager for the Nevada Association of Counties.
Brinkerhoff said the Nevada Association of Counties is working on legislation that would require federal agencies to notify state and local governments of all actions or plans affecting public lands before the federal agency files a public notice.
During the Friday meeting, Eureka County’s natural resources manager, Jake Tibbitts, urged state lawmakers to be proactive and quickly address federal land use issues rural counties are facing.
Tibbitts proposed amending state policy to clarify that federal agencies are expected to enter formal agreements with local governments in Nevada when considering projects on public land in their county.
Under the proposed amendment, those agreements would need to include a detailed coordination plan with local governments at every stage of federal agencies planning and decision-making processes, especially when addressing conflicts between local land use plans and federal plans.
“The federal government doesn’t have to follow the state law, but it would provide good public policy of what our state legislature feels is proper coordination,” Tibbitts said. “It doesn’t drive the specific outcome. It just drives the process to try to get to some coordinated solution.”
In recent years, several utility-scale clean energy projects in Nevada have created conflict between rural communities and federal agencies over public land use. Federal agencies are required to seek public comment when considering land use proposals, but the extent to which they need to apply input from local governments is murky.
When it comes to the economy, Eureka County is almost entirely dependent on federally managed lands, said Tibbitts. Nearly all of Eureka County’s employment is in the natural resources sector, including mining, farming, and ranching.
“We are an agriculture and mining community. That’s what we’ve always been reliant on. That’s what built this community, and that’s what continues to prop it up,” Tibbitts said.
But like Nevada as a whole, land in Eureka County is largely administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, leaving the county at the whims of federal land use policy.
“I think we can all move the needle on some of this stuff in a coordinated way,” Tibbitts said. “All of us just need to be willing to put in some time to do it.”
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