More than 1 million acres of federal land in central and southern Oregon could soon be leased for solar energy projects.
Officials at the federal Bureau of Land Management announced Aug. 29 they had finalized a plan to add Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming to its existing Western Solar Plan – an Obama-era project that expanded permitting for solar projects on federal land. When it was first implemented in 2012, it only included Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
The expansion includes 1.1 million acres of land in Oregon that officials deem to be of low risk for any adverse environmental effects from solar installations, and the plots also are within 15 miles of existing or planned transmission lines.
About 3% of Oregon’s electricity has come from solar in recent years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Western states need to expand solar and other clean energy production to meet their climate goals. Oregon officials, for example, have set a goal of reducing emissions 50% from pre-1990 levels by 2050. The Biden administration also has set a target of a 100% clean electricity grid by the same year, BLM officials said earlier this year.
The plan marks a major expansion for clean energy production in the Bureau of Land Management’s land leasing portfolio. For decades it has leased tens of millions of acres of federal land to fossil fuel companies for oil, coal and natural gas exploration and production.
The draft Western Solar Plan, released in January, received more than 64,000 comments, including 1,200 unique comments that weren’t part of a campaign, according to Brian Hires, a BLM spokesperson.
The publication of the finalized plan on Aug. 29 kickstarted a 30-day period for anyone who participated in the initial planning to voice their opposition to the plan. After that, the Western governors, including Gov. Tina Kotek, will review the plan to ensure it is consistent with existing state and local plans. The bureau is expected to approve and adopt the expanded Western Solar Plan later this year.
Nationwide, at least 700,000 acres of public land is needed to expand solar energy production to meet demand by 2035, according to the bureau. A little over 50% of Oregon land is owned by the federal government and is managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
Alex Baumhardt covers education and the environment for the Oregon Capital Chronicle. oregoncapitalchronicle.com