Comments Osha Gray Davidson has made

The problem of using desert wildlands for solar power isn't discussed in this piece because the bill I was writing about offers incentives to businesses that make equipment for renewable energy production -- not for producers of that energy themselves. No wildlands are involved, so that issue isn't mentioned.

That said, you raise a good point. I recently wrote about it here and here.

As you'll see, I, too, am leery of mega-scale solar farms. But they can be sited on already distrurbed lands, particularly on former irrigated farms. Solar farms can also be sited next to existing transmission lines. But WILL they be built sustainably and with a minimized footprint? That's where we come in (all of us). It''s the job of journalists to keep people informed about how the plans are moving forward, and it's the job of an informed citizenry to act on that information and keep the process honest, real, safe and clean.

I don't know about the national Sierra Club, but our local Arizona Grand Canyon Chapter is keeping a close eye on the BLM to make sure the process is done right.

Thanks for raising a vital issue. There's a debate among environmentalists about whether rooftop PV can supply enough electricity to switch from coal and other dirty sources. From what I've seen, I don't think that'll work, and certainly not in time to lower GHG emmissions enough to head off a lot of damage from global warming. I think we need both concentrated solar power and distributed SP.