Two Colorado elected officials fired off letters to federal leaders today, urging that the Bureau of Land Management lift its moratorium on the development of large-scale solar power plants on federal land in several western states, including Colorado.
Both U.S. Rep Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and state Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, said the clean-and sustainable-energy potential of solar power is too great to put on hold.
“I do not believe a moratorium on new solar projects makes sense in a time of rising energy prices,” Udall wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
The BLM announced the two-year moratorium last month, saying that it needed time to assess the broad environmental impacts large solar power plants could have on wildlife, vegetation and water supply. Udall said he wants to see the BLM continue to process applications for solar power plants while it conducts its environmental assessment.
