BLM to advance development of projects
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced $305 million economic stimulus investment to fund more than 650 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) projects across the country under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
BLM is investing $41 million through the ARRA to advance the nation’s development and transmission of renewable energy on public lands. These funds will be invested in reducing the backlog of pending applications for wind and solar projects on BLM-managed land.
These funds will be invested in regional planning and siting of future development and transmission of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy.
The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Interior Department have already initiated a joint effort to accelerate the processing of solar applications on BLM lands in the south-west.
The list of pending applications for solar development on BLM lands has now grown to more than 200 projects. As dozens of CSP plants move closer to commercialisation, land access issues become more important.